- Alcohol consumption is identified as a significant contributor to the global burden of diseases and it is also listed as the prime risk factor that leads to premature deaths and disabilities reported in low and lower middle income countries. As reported, the Cirrhosis mortality rate among male in Sri Lanka is 33.4 per 100,000, which is the highest in the world. Alcohol is strongly related with large number of suicides and deliberate self-harm prevail in the country. It is also a cause for domestic violence that prevails within the families. As such, a complex relationship subsists between alcohol consumption and poverty in Sri Lanka. The necessity of having an effective national policy on alcohol control has been identified by all other stakeholders inclusive of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine and the National Mental Health Committee. Accordingly, the Sri Lanka National Policy on Alcohol Control presented by Hon. (Dr.) Rajitha Senaratne, the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, was approved by the Cabinet.