You are sweet enough
Healthy Food Policy Reel Series: Episode 3
The Benefits of SSB Taxation
In the last episode of our You’re Sweet Enough Health Policy Miniseries, You’re Sweet Enough’s Advocacy Consultant, Dentrecia Blanchette, briefly discussed the importance and reasoning behind a proposed sugar-sweetened beverage tax, one of many proposed health policies that would greatly help to address our country’s need to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which contribute to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (like diabetes and obesity) in our country.
Today’s episode features Dr. Reginald O’Loughlin (a medical doctor and PRO of the St. Kitts Diabetes Association) discussing how sugar-sweetened beverage-centric health policies would benefit both our country and its citizens.
What are some of these benefits?
1. Health Tax Policies will change the way we buy: Taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages will encourage consumers to spend their money on healthier, more affordable options, such as water, which has numerous benefits for the body.
2. The implementation of health tax policies will help reduce non-communicable diseases in our country: Sugar-sweetened beverages are one of the major risk factors for diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in our country. By taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, we would reduce the consumption of these beverages, which would reduce noncommunicable disease rates.
3. The revenue from health taxes can help to fund public health programs: The taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages can contribute to funding health education campaigns, universal health coverage, efforts to make healthy foods more affordable and programs to create a healthy school environment.
Thanks for watching this week’s episode! We look forward to helping you make the right choices for your long-term health with the You’re Sweet Enough campaign.
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