BITTER TRUTHS: Industry gets its claws out to protect sugar market share in sub-Saharan Africa, multicountry study shows

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South Africa introduced its Health Promotion Levy in 2016, to limited effect due to powerful lobbying by food and beverage multinationals. Their endeavours in neighbouring countries are also showing to be impeding sugar-sweetened beverages tax implementation, a webinar on combating non-communicable diseases in east and southern Africa has heard.

but unlike South Africa, they do not specifically target the sugar content for health promotion; the levies are minor excise taxes to boost the fiscus.

In Zambia, participants highlighted public perceptions that nutrition-related NCDs are viewed as diseases of the wealthy and that SSB consumption is a health hazard for the elite, educated and middle class. In Kenya, it was said that SSBs cannot be “criminalised”, as was the case with tobacco, by imposing a tax since SSBs were regarded as “food”.

The study in Rwanda highlighted that access to healthy alternative beverages is important because only 57% of the population have access to safe drinking water. Major health-sector reforms over the past two decades have resulted in better health outcomes but employment and investment agendas favouring the sugar industry are not aligning with health efforts.

In Rwanda, major health-sector reforms resulted in improved health outcomes over the past two decades. However, current employment and investment agendas to bolster the sugar industry do not align with public health efforts to address unhealthy diets and obesity.

 

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