“One of the most effective tools”: who suggests taxing tobacco, alcohol and sugar “at least 50% by 2035”

The World Health Organization launched a new initiative on Tuesday, July 1, encouraging its member states to “increase the real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks of at least 50% by 2035”.

The objective: “reduce chronic diseases and generate essential income for public funds,” said a press release published on the occasion of the Seville Development Conference.

Nicknamed “3 by 35”, this initiative “occurs at a time when health systems are under enormous pressure due to the increase in the number of patients with not transmitted diseases (MNT), the decrease in development aid and the increase in public debt,” says the UN organization.

In fact, taxing this type of product has demonstrated its effectiveness to lower consumption.

Taxes “reduce the consumption of harmful products”

Michael Bloomberg, a multimillionaire, mayor of New York in the 2000s and smoking fierce smoking, has successfully taxed cigarettes.

“Health taxes are one of the most effective tools we have,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, responsible for promoting health prevention and control.

“They reduce the consumption of harmful products and generate income that governments can reinvest in medical care, education and social protection. It is time to act,” he insists.

The consumption of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks feeds the epidemic of diseases not transmitted, the WHO emphasizes.

140 countries have increased tobacco taxes

According to organizational statistics, MNT, which include heart disease, cancer and diabetes, represent more than 75% of all deaths in the world. According to WHO, “a single 50% increase in prices in these products could avoid 50 million premature deaths in the next 50 years.”

The organization even establishes an “ambitious but attainable objective: to charge US $ 1,000 billion in the next 10 years.

“Between 2012 and 2022, almost 140 countries increased tobacco taxes, which resulted in an increase in real prices of more than 50% on average, which shows that they are possible changes on a large scale,” said Who.