Health advocates under the coalition of National Action on Sugar Reduction (NASR), have called for an increase in tax imposed on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) to help Nigerians reduce statistics of preventable diseases.
The coalition urge the federal government to impose a 20 per cent tax on SSB, to save Nigerians from preventable diseases including obesity.
It noted that one in eight people worldwide grapples with obesity, with statistics revealing that 30 per cent of Nigerians are overweight and 15 per cent are classified as obese.
Speaking at an awareness rally to commemorate the World Obesity Day on Saturday in Abuja, the representative of the coalition, Omei Bongos-Ikwue said the goal of this pro-health tax is to protect more Nigerians from the risks of obesity.
Ms Ikwue said the tax will also alleviate the burden on the healthcare system, and promote a healthier society.
“The reason we are having an awareness on obesity is because, it leads to serious illnesses like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and others,” she said.
“The issue with these drinks is that they go straight to the bloodstream and they are stored as fat because the content of the drinks are heavily concentrated with sugar and the body can’t digest it all.”
She said about 11 million people in Nigeria are living with diabetes and many of them cannot afford full treatment.
“So, we are saying tax sugary drinks so we can prevent people from things like diabetes, heart disease, and in the end, you are saving yourself and the family.”
She added that obesity poses a significant threat to health and SSBs emerge as a primary source of added sugar in diet.
Obesity in focus
The World Health Organization defines overweight and obesity “as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.
Obesity is one side of the double burden of malnutrition, and today more people are obese than underweight in every region except the South-East Asia Region.
Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, today some middle-income countries have the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide.
Lafiya360 earlier reported that the 2024 World Obesity Atlas report projected that the number of adults living with obesity will rise from 0.81 billion in 2020 to 1.53 billion in 2035.
The report also indicates that 79 per cent of adults with overweight and obesity will live in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) by 2035.
Similarly, it highlighted that 88 per cent of children with overweight and obesity will be living in LMICs by 2035.
According to the report, no country in the world is on track to reach the target to ‘halt the rise’ of obesity prevalence by 2030, as set by the WHO.
The report reads in part: “In reality, rather than a zero increase, the World Obesity Atlas 2022 estimated that global obesity is likely to have doubled over this time.
“By 2035, over half the world’s population will be above a healthy weight. The majority of these people will be in middle-income countries, where obesity is often poorly understood and capacity is lacking to address it.”