Spokesman Report<\/p>\n
Islamabad: Leading medical and patient associations in Pakistan have written to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and other policy makers, urging an increase in the federal excise duty on all sweetened beverages to minimum of 40 percent in the budget 2026-27. Organizations including the Pakistan National Heart Association, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates, Heartfile, Pakistan Kidney Patients Association, Pakistan Association of Family Physicians, and Diabetic Association of Pakistan, among others, have called on parliamentarians and policymakers to strengthen taxation on all sweetened beverages, including juices, as part of a comprehensive strategy to address the country’s rapidly growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
\nThe letters highlighted that Pakistan is facing one of the world’s most severe diabetes epidemics. According to the International Diabetes Federation, nearly 35 million Pakistanis are living with diabetes, while millions more remain undiagnosed or are at high risk of developing the disease. More than 1,100 people die every day from diabetes and its related complications in Pakistan, placing an enormous burden on families, the healthcare system, and the national economy. The annual cost of management of diabetes in Pakistan has increased to 2.6 billion nearly double than the IMF annual program.
\nSana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary of PANAH, said that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends fiscal measures, including taxation on all sweetened beverages, as an effective tool to prevent obesity, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and other diet-related illnesses. He emphasized that sugars present in sweetened beverages, including fruit juices, contribute significantly to excessive sugar intake and increase the risk of serious health complications.
\nThe letters cited substantial evidence linking the consumption of sweetened beverages and juices to the rising incidence of diabetes, stroke, heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, and other health conditions.
\nThe experts also raised concerns that some elements within the food and beverage industry are attempting to mislead the public and policymakers by portraying juices as a healthy alternative. They noted that such claims contradict the available scientific evidence and recommendations of the World Health Organization. WHO recommends taxing all sweetened beverages, regardless of whether the sugar is added, naturally occurring, or replaced with non-sugar sweeteners.
\n\u201cProviding any tax relief on juices or similar products risks misleading consumers. Such policy concessions may be interpreted as government endorsement that these products are healthy or safe for frequent consumption. This perception would contradict scientific evidence and public health recommendations, potentially increasing consumption of juices under the mistaken belief that they are beneficial for health,\u201d added Ghumman.
\nPANAH and its partner organizations have sent these letters to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Finance Minister, the Health Minister, the Minister for National Food Security and Research, chairpersons and members of the National Assembly and Senate Standing Committees on Health, and other policymakers. The associations and expert organizations urged the government to reject any pressure by segments of the juice industry to secure tax relief on juices or other sweetened beverages at the expense of public health.
\nThey called on the government to increase the Federal Excise Duty (FED) to 40 percent on all sweetened beverages in the Finance Bill 2026\u201327, including carbonated drinks, packaged juices, sweetened tea and coffee beverages, flavored milk, chocolate drinks, and similar products. They argued that this measure would help reduce the growing burden of NCDs while generating additional revenue that could be invested in public health and social protection programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spokesman Report Islamabad: Leading medical and patient associations in Pakistan have written to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and other policy makers, urging an increase in the federal excise duty on all sweetened beverages to minimum of 40 percent in the budget 2026-27. Organizations including the Pakistan National Heart Association, Centre for Peace and Development […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[977,1039],"class_list":["post-63588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national","tag-pakistan-national-heart-association","tag-sweetened-beverages-fueling-national-health-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63591,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63588\/revisions\/63591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}