Caribbean, May 18, 2017 – Barbados – 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- this coming from The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) who are encouraging Caribbean authorities to adopt these tax measures, which can contribute to reducing the burden of many diseases 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 bringing together health and finance officials from 17 countries and territories for the Caribbean Subregional Workshop on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Barbados May 16-18, to discuss the benefits of adopting such measures.
“Taxes can be a very effective tool for not only reducing deaths in the region because of these diseases, but as a source of funding for public health interventions that are necessary to care for or affect affected people,” said Dr. Jessie Schutt-Aine, Caribbean Subregional Program Coordinador. “We all win if these measures are applied and more is invested in healthy interventions.”
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