Health experts seek 40pc tax on sugary drinks to fund nutrition reforms
Health experts seek 40pc tax on sugary drinks to fund nutrition reforms
AKU
Media Source: The Nation (Pakistan)
Date: 9 June 2026
A coalition of Pakistan’s top health and nutrition experts has urged the federal government to impose higher taxes on sugary drinks to directly subsidise healthy food, arguing that fiscal policy is now critical to reversing the country’s escalating malnutrition and obesity crisis. Dr Ashar Malik, a health economist at Aga Khan…
A coalition of Pakistan’s top health and nutrition experts has urged the federal government to impose higher taxes on sugary drinks to directly subsidise healthy food, arguing that fiscal policy is now critical to reversing the country’s escalating malnutrition and obesity crisis. Dr Ashar Malik, a health economist at Aga Khan University, emphasised that billions had flowed into nutrition projects since the 2000s from the European Union, World Bank, USAID, and others, especially in Sindh, but the missing link was accountability. “Linking these investments to performance and measurable outcomes is essential,” he added. He proposed that districts should use granular micro-survey data to estimate local needs and called for making national nutrition survey microdata publicly available for decentralised planning.