Call For More Taxes On Sugar Sweetened Beverages

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Sep, 2021 ) :The Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH) and the Association for Gender Awareness & Human Empowerment (AGAHE) jointly held a media sensitization session on the 'Health harms' and stressed the need for increasing taxes on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) to reduce their consumption.

Addressing the participants here at a local hotel on Friday, PANAH General Secretary Sanaullah Ghumman said that his Association was making efforts to create awareness among the public for the last 37 years about the factors that were harmful to human health. He said that excessive use of SSBs was causing fatal diseases among people like heart complications, obesity, diabetes, liver and kidney problems and some types of cancer.

Prof Dr Abdul Basit, General Secretary Diabetic Association of Pakistan, said that diabetes was growing exponentially in Pakistan and according to the International Diabetes Federation, Pakistan had been ranked fourth in diabetes.

As per the national diabetes survey, every 4th Pakistani was diabetic, he added.

He said that increasing tax on SSBs was evidence-based effective strategy to reduce its consumption and increase possible revenue for the country.

Munawar Hussain, consultant food Policy Programme, Global Health Advocacy, said that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) were on the rise in Pakistan and contributing to nearly 58 per cent of the total mortality in the country. Excessive sugar consumption was one of the major causes of obesity and its related diseases, he said and added intake of sugary drinks on daily basis increases the risk of weight gain by 27 per cent in adults and 55 per cent in children.

Health professionals, media personals and others attended the session.