Is sugary drinks tax enough to curb the rise in obesity and non-communicable diseases?
PARKTOWN – The effectiveness of sugary drinks tax, industry regulations to combat obesity and accessibility to healthy food was discussed at a conference at the Sunnyside Park Hotel.
Sugary drinks tax and other measures to address obesity and the rise in non-communicable diseases were debated by representatives of the Healthy Living Alliance (Heala), Department of Health and Health-e News at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Parktown on 31 July.
Health-e digital and online editor Pontsho Pilane opened the discussion by questioning whether the sugary drinks tax, which was implemented in South Africa in April last year, has made a real difference in fighting obesity and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
“It is not just individual choices but rather systemic decisions that really matter,” said Pilane.
Heala advocacy and campaign coordinator Mary-Jane Matsolo said food justice should be prioritised as a social justice issue. Food justice is a movement in response to food insecurity and economic pressures which prevent access to healthy foods.
“Junk food and sugary beverages are drivers of increasing numbers of non-communicable diseases which burden our public healthcare system. “We need to look at ways of preventing these diseases. We need to challenge society to see the cost of a happy meal. There is nothing happy about sitting in long queues for hours to receive poor healthcare,” said Matsolo.
“We need to start pushing back at the food and beverage industry and push the government to protect the lives of ordinary people.”
Lynn Moeng of the Department of Health said often the choice to purchase sugary drinks and junk food were about cost and access. “We need to pressurise the industry to make it more healthy and improve access to change patterns. If we don’t address the issue that McDonald’s and KFC are outside of schools, we will achieve nothing. We need more education to make consumers aware of how their minds are being twisted,” added Moeng.
She said the sugary drinks tax collected R50 million last year, which is being used to address non-communicable diseases, focusing on cancer specifically. Moeng said a plan was being put together to see where the tax money would be used in future. She added that the department was looking into implementing policies regarding changes to front-of-pack labelling to make adverse health effects more obvious to consumers, as well as new regulations around marketing to children.
Lawrence Mbalati of Heala hit back at Moeng saying the government should take reasonable steps to address food security and food justice. “Industry will never self-regulate because they seek to profit. It is critical for government to regulate this industry. We, as civil society, want to work with the government to see campaigns bear fruit,” said Mbalati.
Economist Nick Stacey of Priority Cost Effective Lessons for System Strengthening South Africa (Priceless SA) said a more holistic approach to nutritional change was necessary. He emphasised the need to regulate the unhealthy food market, and increase access to healthier foods through subsidies. He also drew attention to the unemployment crisis in South Africa, which the beverage association seeks to highlight whenever policy change is threatened.
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