Increasing tax on sugary drinks is a triple win for government: experts.

ISLAMABAD -- Increasing tax on sugary drinks can help generate significant revenue and reduce hospital expenditure.

The common man is not affected when tax is increased on sugary drinks as these are not necessary items and their consumption only causes diseases which increases hospital expenditure.

This was stated by experts at a session organised by Pakistan National Heart Association (Panah). Pakistan is ranked third in the world in terms of prevalence of diabetes as 33 million people are affected by the disease.

Panah's General Secretary Sanaullah Ghumman said that for the last four decades his association had been working to save the lives of people, especially the youth, from heart and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

'Sugary drinks are one of the major causes of these diseases. Every section of society including the media and health professionals are raising their voices to reduce consumption of these harmful drinks,' he said.

Munawar Hussain, consultant Global Health Advocacy Incubator, said excessive consumption of sugary drinks was a growing threat to health and economy.

'Increasing tax on sugary drinks is a triple win for the government, as policy intervention does not cost anything to the government, helps reduce disease burden and...

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