Health Experts: Tax Hikes on Sugary Drinks, Alcohol Alone Insufficient to Curb Consumption

Public health specialists have cautioned that increasing taxes on sugary beverages and alcoholic drinks as recently urged by the World Health Organisation (WHO) may not be enough to significantly lower the public health risks linked to their consumption.

Speaking with Hamattan News, experts acknowledged that taxation can reduce intake and generate government revenue, but stressed that it must be paired with robust public education to meaningfully curb non-communicable diseases like diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers.

Professor Adebayo Onajole of the University of Lagos explained that while taxes can discourage consumption, in a setting with limited disposable income, people often seek cheaper, potentially unregulated alternatives.

“One measure can’t fix the issue,” he stated, adding that broader lifestyle factors and awareness are critical.

Dr. Gafar Alawode, CEO of DGI Consult, noted that “taxation must go hand-in-hand with sustained public education” so citizens understand the health impacts regardless of the product’s source.

The WHO recently called for higher health taxes to reduce disease burden and fund health systems, citing data that non-communicable diseases cause 74% of global deaths.

However, the physicians emphasized that without parallel efforts to inform the public and address wider lifestyle influences, tax policy alone would deliver limited results in improving national health outcomes.