Raise taxes on alcohol and soda, WHO tells Ruto

The total tax on most alcohol brands is just 33 per cent of the price, which means the country is not reaping full benefits such taxes bring.

Alcohol use is associated with more than 200 diseases, injuries and conditions that have detrimental consequences for the health, and social and economic development of countries, WHO said.

The organisation said a 2017 study shows that taxes that increase alcohol prices by 50 per cent would help avert over 21 million deaths over 50 years and generate nearly $17 trillion in additional revenues, globally.

“Taxing unhealthy products creates healthier populations. It has a positive ripple effect across society - less disease and debilitation and revenue for governments to provide public services. In the case of alcohol, taxes also help prevent violence and road traffic injuries,” WHO director Dr Rűdiger Krech said.

The organisation also recommended an increase on sugary sweetened beverages such as soda and juices.

Taxes on most such beverages in Kenya constitute about 25 per cent of the price, which WHO says should be higher.

The country also taxes water, which is not recommended by WHO.

Alcohol and sugary beverages are among the culprits responsible for the growing burden of non-communicable diseases in Kenya. 

Ministry of Health said NCDs are responsible for more than 50 per cent of in-patient hospital admissions and 39 per cent of all deaths annually.

WHO made its recommendations this week, when it released new data that showed a low global rate of taxes applied to unhealthy products such as alcohol and sugar sweetened beverages.

The findings said majority of countries do not use taxes to incentivise healthier behaviours.

The organisation also released a technical manual on alcohol tax policy and administration.

Alcohol is the most abused drug in Kenya, the 2022 survey by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse said.

The survey, Status of Drugs and Substance Use in Kenya, 2022, showed that one in every eight Kenyans aged 15 to 65 years, a population of about 3,199,119 people, currently use alcohol.

In 2020, WHO released data that showed alcohol-related deaths in Kenya reached 355 or 0.13 per cent of total deaths, placing Kenya at position 88 among the most affected in the world.

Globally 2.6 million people die from drinking alcohol every year and over eight million from an unhealthy diet, WHO said in a statement this week.

It gave an example of Lithuania, which increased alcohol tax in 2017 to drive down consumption and reduce deaths from alcohol related diseases.

Lithuania increased alcohol tax revenue from 234 million euros in 2016 to 323 million euros in 2018 and saw alcohol-related deaths drop from 23.4 per 100,000 people in 2016 to 18.1 per 100,000 people in 2018.

Research shows that taxing alcohol and sugary beverages helps cut down use of these products and gives companies a reason to make healthier products.

While at the same time tax on these products help prevent injuries and noncommunicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes and heart diseases.

A recent Gallup Poll, conducted in collaboration with WHO and Bloomberg Philanthropies, found that the majority of people surveyed across all countries supported increasing taxes on unhealthy products such as alcohol and SBBs.

WHO recommends that excise tax should apply to all sugar-sweetened beverages and alcoholic beverages.

According to Nacada, Nairobi has the highest prevalence of manufactured legal alcohol at 10.3 per cent followed by Central at 10 per cent and Eastern, 8.4 per cent.

Previously, taxes on alcohol and unhealthy beverages have been furiously fought by lobbies representing these industries.

Last month, one alcohol manufacturer claimed that “high” taxes have made genuine alcohol expensive, pushing ordinary Kenyans to buy cheap, substandard liquor.

“A recent industry report from Euromonitor indicates that nearly two-thirds of alcohol being consumed in Kenya is illicit, meaning that far more people are resorting to the bad stuff that not only endangers their life but also denies the Exchequer due revenues,” a manager from the brewer said.