Signing  Excise Duty Amendment Bill Into Law Will Save Lives- CSOs 

The Ghana NCD Alliance and its partners have implored Ghanaians to embrace the health benefits of the excise duty amendment bill and throw weight behind the Coalition, the public health, as they await the President’s signature.

According to them, they are not calling for the banning of these products, but rather for some level of effective regulation to limit the rise in NCDs and lessen the financial burden on people’s health care costs, death, and disabilities.

The National Coordinator for Ghana NCD Alliance Mr. Labram Musah who also doubles as the Executive Director of Programs for the Vision for Alternative Development made this known during a press conference in Accra.

“Tobacco use, alcohol use, and unhealthy diets, including the consumption of SSBs are among the leading risk factors of non-communicable diseases- a largely preventable cause of death, which is responsible for 41 million annual deaths globally with 94,400 of these deaths occurring in Ghana alone.

While non-communicable diseases are projected to be Africa’s leading cause of death by 2030 if governments do not act urgently.

As poor diets are responsible for some 11 million deaths annually, with cardiovascular disease, cancers, and diabetes leading the causes.

“The fact remains that no country can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 3 on Health and Well-being if it does not prioritize Prevention by controlling the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, and tobacco which are major NCDs risk factors,” he stated.

According to him, the wide availability, accessibility and affordability of sugar-sweetened beverages and other unhealthy commodities have increased remarkably over the past decade.

The result of the shift from healthy foods to junk foods is seen in the rising rates of obesity, especially among children as well as other diet-related NCDs.

As of 2015, a joint survey by the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Health Service, and ICF International found Ghana’s obesity rate at 15.3% while overweight stood at 24.8%.

A WHO statistic estimates that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5 – 19 increased significantly to a double-digit of over 18% in 2016 from 4% in 1975. Today, 7 out of every 10 Ghanaian adults and 4.5 out of 11 children are obese (Global Obesity Observatory 2023).

Sadly, the World Health Organization had attributed these preventable deaths to governments’ failure to take responsibility and act.

The Action, as recommended by the WHO Best-Buys includes tax measures, which have globally been proven as an effective NCD intervention, especially in low-and-middle-income-countries like Ghana, who are facing the double burden of diseases.

Mr. Labram Musah stressed that the resulting impact on health and the economy is enormous since obesity leads to comorbidities with other non-communicable diseases such as cancer, mental illness, hypertension, bone diseases, and cardiovascular disease.

“Economically, a team of Ghanaian researchers found that the average healthcare cost per admission for adults of healthy weight is $35, whereas for adults with overweight, it is $78, and for adults with obesity, $132.

The study further estimated that 60% of the average total costs per person expended is borne by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

This means that the government is paying huge sums of money for the treatment and care of obesity and its related diseases when lives and money could be saved with preventive tax policies on SSBs, tobacco, and alcohol.

As the healthcare costs and deaths linked to these health-harming products keep increasing, this is the right intervention to protect young people, promote health outcomes, and guarantee sustainable financing for public health service delivery,” he highlighted.

He said diet and nutrition are important factors in promoting and maintaining good health throughout life; nutrition has a major modifiable determinant of chronic disease.

The bill was passed by Parliament on the night of March 31, 2023, to impose or increase taxes on health-harming products including sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), tobacco, and alcohol, which had been found to be the major factors to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The Ghana NCD Alliance and its partners, therefore, called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sign the Excise Duty Amendment Bill, 2022 into law to save the lives of the citizenry from diseases and deaths.

The other partners were the University of Ghana School of Public Health, the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Ghana Public Health Association.

About Excise Duty Amendment Bill, 2022

The bill was passed by Parliament on the night of March 31, 2023, to impose or increase taxes on health-harming products including sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), tobacco, and alcohol, which had been found to be the major factors to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Source: Isaac Kofi Dzokpo/newsghana.com.gh