Taxes on tobacco, alcoholic and sweetened beverages can help reduce consumption of these products and generate income that can be used to improve the health of the Caribbean population. So says the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
It’s encouraging Caribbean authorities to adopt these tax measures, which can contribute to reducing the burden of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and their devastating social and economic consequences. Implementing taxes on the consumption of unhealthy products requires decisions by health authorities as well as finance authorities who design tax policies. To that end, PAHO/WHO is brought together health and finance officials from 17 countries and territories for the Caribbean Sub regional Workshop on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Barbados May 16-18, to discuss the benefits of adopting such measures.