The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that sugary drinks and alcohol are getting relatively cheaper, as it urged countries to hike taxes to reduce consumption levels and boost health funding.
It said consistently low taxes on the products in most countries were fueling obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancers.
The organization said that while such drinks generate billions of dollars in profit, governments capture a relatively small share of that through health-driven taxes, leaving societies to bear the long-term health and economic costs.
“Weak tax systems are allowing harmful products to remain cheap while health systems face mounting financial pressure from preventable non-communicable diseases,” the UN health agency said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that health taxes are one of the strongest tools available for promoting health and preventing diseases. “By increasing taxes on products like tobacco, sugary drinks, and alcohol, governments can reduce harmful consumption and unlock funds for vital health services.”
With poorer countries left struggling as aid funding dries up, such taxes could help make the transition towards sustainable self-reliance in running health systems.
Tedros warned that health taxes are not simple to implement, but he cited countries like the Philippines, Britain, and Lithuania as having successfully passed such measures.
The WHO is urging states to raise and redesign their taxes as part of its “3 by 35” initiative, aimed at increasing the prices of tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks by 2035.
It adds that at least 116 countries tax sugary drinks like sodas, but many other high-sugar products, such as sweetened milk drinks and ready-to-drink coffees and teas still escape taxation.
“While industry profits, the public often carries the health consequences and society the economic costs.”
The relationship between sugary drinks and public health has been well established, and while the Philippines is among the countries that has been cited by the WHO for having successfully passed tax measures to tax sugary and alcoholic drinks, it is something that we can still improve on so more partake of the benefits, rather than the risks.
For Negrenses, there is the added caveat that our government also has to continue looking after the interests of areas that are still dependent on the sugar industry. Hopefully, those in a position to influence where the industry will go in the short and long term will not leave it in shambles such as this year’s man-made crisis.*
