Philippine taxes on sugary drinks could avert many deaths: WHO

The Philippines could avert 24,000 premature deaths linked to diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart failure in the next two decades after it adopted taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

The taxes levied this year could cut consumption and avoid nearly 6,000 deaths related to diabetes, 8,000 from stroke and more than 10,000 from heart diseases over 20 years, a WHO research study showed.

“The new sugar-sweetened beverage tax may help reduce obesity-related premature deaths and improve financial well-being in the Philippines,” the researchers said.

The taxes, part of a series of reforms aimed at helping to fund infrastructure, could yield healthcare savings of about $627mn and annual revenue of $813mn, they added.

The high consumption of colas was the main driver of obesity, swelling the burden of non-communicable diseases, the WHO said.

Retail prices of sugar-sweetened beverages have risen as much as 13% after the Philippines imposed the taxes in January, joining 27 countries with similar levies.

The WHO has backed taxation as a way of curbing rising obesity if retail prices rise 10% to 20% to cut consumption.

In 2013, 31% of the total Philippine adult population of 56.3mn was overweight, the agency said, with the proportion of overweight youth nearly doubling to 8.3% from close to 5% within just a decade.

Countries from Britain to Belgium, France, Hungary and Mexico have adopted, or are about to adopt, similar taxes, although Scandinavian nations have used them for years.

A study published last year on the impact of Mexico’s tax on sugary drinks showed it cut purchases by more than 5% in the first year, and nearly 10% in 2015, the second year.

“The new sugar-sweetened beverage tax may help reduce obesity-related premature deaths and improve financial wellbeing in the Philippines”