Health risks: World Bank wants special taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, beverages

The World Bank Group has called on the Federal Government to impose special taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and sugar-sweetened beverages to improve primary healthcare.

“If we want to improve healthcare in Nigeria, we need to tax the things that are killing us.

“The economic rationale for taxing these products is strong if we want to save lives and make a better and healthier Nigeria,” Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, Country Director for Nigeria, World Bank Group, said.

He made the call on Friday in Abuja at a special National Council on Health meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Chaudhuri noted that taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages would reduce the health risks associated with their consumption and expand fiscal space for universal health coverage post-COVID 19.

The country director stated that investing in stronger health systems for all would contribute to tackling rising poverty and inequality.

He added that health tax increases would have the additional advantage of reducing future healthcare costs by curbing the growth of the non- communicable diseases that tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages cause.

In his goodwill message to the meeting, Dr. Walter Mulombo, WHO’s representative in Nigeria, said he could attest to the enormous health needs of Nigerians and efforts made so far in meeting the needs.

He said his attestation was based on the fact that he had visited half of Nigeria’s 36 states in less than two years in the country.

Mulombo noted that while COVID-19 exposed weaknesses in global economy including health, he considered it a unique opportunity for a thorough evaluation of existing resources and mechanisms to prepare better for a more resilient future.

In his contribution, UNICEF’s Chief of Health, Dr. Eduardo Celades, noted that it was optimistic that the meeting would arrive at recommendations to drive tangible, equitable and sustainable results for Nigeria.

This, he stressed was particularly for women and children in line with the SDGs vision of “leaving no one behind.”

Celades said that achieving the desired outcomes would require the match of deliberations with the needed actions.