The tax is planned to take effect on April 1 2017. It’s designed to reduce sugar intake from sugar-sweetened beverages by upping the price with a 20% fiscal tax.
The South African health authorities’ plan to issue a sugar tax must not be seen in isolation. It is part of the South African National Department of Health’s strategic plans to prevent and control non-communicable disease, and obesity.
These strategies have set the ambitious target of reducing obesity by 10% by 2020. And they include salt reduction legislation, trans-fat regulations, and stricter label and advertising regulations.
The reality is that the move to introduce the sugar tax is necessary because of the scourge of non-communicable diseases and obesity in the country.
The rise of non-communicable diseases
It is not unusual for populations that modernise as a result of socioeconomic development to have changes in their dietary patterns.
But the move from traditional foods to more processed and convenience foods is linked to weight gain and an increased risk of developing diet-related non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Non-communicable diseases have become the leading causes of death in low- and middle-income countries. South Africa is no exception. It has the highest rates of overweight and obese adults in Africa.
Nearly one in every seven South African women is affected. And 40% of deaths from non-communicable conditions among men occur before they turn 60.
In its second National Burden of Disease Study South Africa’s Medical Research Council tracked mortality levels and trends for non-communicable diseases between 1997 and 2012. It found that by 2010 non communicable diseases had become one of the top causes of death in the country. They accounted for 39% of all fatalities putting them on par with the number of people dying from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.
The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2020 these diseases will account for 80% of the global burden of disease. They will be responsible for seven of every 10 deaths in developing countries.
Currently, a third of these premature deaths in lower income countries occur in people under the age of 60. In high income countries the proportion is only 13%.
The impact of non-communicable diseases has a significant impact on economic development. The accumulated loss to South Africa’s gross domestic product between 2006 and 2015 from diabetes, stroke and heart disease was estimated at US$1.88 billion. The World Economic Forum has estimated that other industrialised countries such as Brazil, China, India and the Russia lose more than 20 million productive life years annually to non-communicable diseases.
Hettie Carina Schönfeldt, associate professor of Human Nutrition at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Wellbeing, University of Pretoria. Beulah Pretorius, researcher in Human Nutrition and Food Composition, University of Pretoria. Nicolette Hall, researcher & Post-doc in Human Nutrition, University of Pretoria.
