Alcohol can cause breast cancer, but very few patients get asked about their drinking
16.10.2026 - Only 15% of people in the European Union1 know that alcohol can cause breast cancer, even though alcohol is an established risk factor. To close this gap, WHO/Europe is launching a new digital hub with a built-in AI assistant during this Breast Cancer Awareness Month that gives health professionals the tools they need to talk about alcohol and cancer risk. It’s also calling for better conversations about alcohol and health, so the evidence collected can lead to healthier lives.
The WHO Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions Hub puts trusted evidence and practical tools in one place, making it easier for health professionals and others to identify alcohol-related risks early, talk about them and provide support.
What people are not being told about alcohol
Alcohol causes at least 7 types of cancer, including breast cancer, as well as cardiovascular and liver diseases. Yet many people in the WHO European Region remain unaware of these harms.
The knowledge gap is particularly striking for breast cancer. Across 14 countries surveyed by WHO/Europe, only 15% of respondents knew that alcohol could cause breast cancer. Among women, awareness was just 21%. In 2020, alcohol was responsible for an estimated 39 200 new breast cancer cases across the WHO European Region.
“Alcohol harm isn’t abstract. It can be heart and liver disease. It can be a baby exposed to alcohol before birth. It can be anxiety and depression. It can be a woman who develops breast cancer without ever being told alcohol was a risk”, says Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, WHO/Europe Regional Advisor on Alcohol. “We know screening and brief interventions work, but only if health professionals feel able to use them. A doctor or nurse with a few minutes between patients can now ask the Hub’s AI assistant how to ask about alcohol consumption and get an answer based on WHO evidence. That makes conversations about alcohol a normal part of care, not an awkward extra.”
Asking earlier can make a difference
Screening and brief interventions (SBI) give professionals a practical way to identify alcohol-related risks before more serious problems develop. Screening can be as simple as asking a short set of questions to understand a person's level of risk. A brief intervention can then help someone understand how alcohol may be affecting their health and support them to make changes.
But these conversations do not happen often enough. Alcohol intake is often the least discussed behavioural risk factor for ill health – addressed less frequently than smoking, physical activity or diet.
Professionals may lack time, training or confidence. They may not be confident about how to raise alcohol consumption without making people feel judged; they may be unsure about what questions to ask or where to find reliable guidance and tools. In many settings, alcohol receives limited attention in professional training curricula, leaving practitioners with gaps in knowledge or relying on outdated information and persistent misconceptions.
Harnessing digital innovation
The new hub puts everything needed for that conversation in one place. Health workers can use the AUDIT, an internationally validated 10-question screening test, to assess a person’s risk. Interactive tools show what counts as a “standard drink” and how alcohol affects health. The SBI Assistant, the Hub’s AI tool, helps users work out how to start the conversation or find the right resource. All this sits alongside WHO guidance and evidence on SBI.
“People already ask AI about their health, including how much alcohol is safe. They often get a confident answer with no way of checking where it came from”, says Nebi Bekiri, Head of Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence at WHO/Europe. “We built an assistant that works the other way round. It only answers from a defined set of WHO evidence and implementation resources, it shows you the source behind every answer, and it points you to a tool you can use in a consultation or on your own.”
The WHO Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions Hub is a major product of the WHO/EU Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), co-funded by the European Union. EVID-ACTION has supported countries across the EU, Iceland, Norway and Ukraine to turn evidence on alcohol harm and prevention into practical action. The Hub is designed as a living resource. As evidence, technology and practice develop, new resources and tools can be added, helping professionals and policy-makers find trusted information and put it to use.
1Surveyed across 14 countries.
Comments