NUTRITION

Sweetened beverages. The Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, comprised of World Health Organization (WHO) global ambassador Mike Bloomberg and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, have released a report on how countries can prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The goal is to “encourage the implementation of taxes on harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol and sugary beverages”. The Task Force of specialists and leaders from around the world seeks to address the health and economic burden caused by such chronic health conditions by promoting policies that reduce sugar consumption and through rapidly introduced increases in taxes on alcoholic and sugary beverages.

The report examines the evidence of the implementation of special taxes on health care, including the barriers to their entry into force, and recommends supporting fiscal policies that improve health outcomes for citizens. It argues that nearly 50 million premature deaths could be prevented if countries were to apply measures to raise the price of cigarettes and alcoholic and sugary beverages by 50% over the next half century.

This, the Task Force contends, would produce revenues of over $20 billion, or even more in low- and middle-income countries where associated health costs and productivity losses from consumption of these products are increasing. However, the report highlights the need for government intervention to address market failures (particularly when these lead to substantial damage), the concerns raised by opponents of these taxes (regarding their impact on personal income), issues around employment and illicit trade, as well as inaction, and the lack of justification thereof, on the part of governments.

Next steps

The Task Force is expected to forward the recommendations on taxation of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and sugary beverages to WHO for consideration during 2019. The objective of the Task Force is for WHO to promote its own recommendations to governments to implement policies to reduce the consumption of, for instance, sugars via the introduction of dissuasive taxes.