Health taxes for healthier lives: an opportunity for all governments | BMJ Global Health
Health taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce the consumption of unhealthy products helping also reduce the deaths of the more than 40 million people who die annually from non-communicable diseases Yet, the implementation of health taxes globally remains vastly underutilised. For example, WHO’s 2021 Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic finds that only 13% of the world’s population is protected by tobacco taxes at best-practice levels WHO and the Alliance are supporting local researchers around the world to document policies and processes to advance health taxes Governments around the world are missing an efficient and cost-effective opportunity to improve health, raise revenue, invest in equity and save lives One of the WHO’s highest priorities is to support countries to promote health and prevent disease by addressing its root causes.1 Compelling evidence demonstrates that one of the most effective ways to do this is to use health taxes to reduce the consumption of unheal