Al-Jawaldeh Ayoub, Perucic Anne-Marie, Hammerich Asmus, Moneim Adham Rashad Ismail Abdel, Ibrahim Eman T, ALMatrooshi Fatma Essa, Alkhalaf Majid Mqbel, Letaief Mondher, Alali Nouf Khamis, Alghaith Taghreed Mohammed, Abbass Marwa Ms
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
Health Promotion Department, World Health Organization.
East Mediterr Health J. 2024 Dec 3;30(11):746-756. doi: 10.26719/2024.30.11.746.
The World Health Organization recommends taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) as part of cost-effective interventions to prevent diet-related noncommunicable diseases.
To analyse the adoption and implementation of SSBs taxation in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and its impact on obesity rates.
Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we collected information on progress with implementation of SSBs taxes in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates between January 2015 and December 2023. We searched literature published in Arabic and English on the subject and used the WHO acceleration scenario modelling tool to forecast the potential impact of SSBs on overweight and obesity in the 2 countries over the same period.
Both countries implemented SSBs taxation consistently between 2015 and 2023, generating additional revenue and reducing obesity rates. The acceleration scenario estimates showed that SBB taxation could reduce overweight prevalence among children and adolescents (aged 5-19 years) from 38.2% in 2020 to 34.4% in 2030 in Saudi Arabia and from 37.0% to 34.6% in United Arab Emirates, and could reduce obesity rate by approximately 12.7% in Saudi Arabia and 9.5% in United Arab Emirates in the same period.
This review provides further evidence that SSBs taxes can be effective in reducing sugar consumption, thereby reducing overweight and obesity rates. However, to effectively combat obesity and overweight among children and adolescents, taxation policies must be implemented alongside other strategies, including public health campaigns to increase awareness about the health risks associated with excessive sugar consumption.
世界卫生组织建议对含糖饮料征税，作为预防与饮食相关的非传染性疾病的具有成本效益的干预措施的一部分。
分析沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国对含糖饮料征税的采用和实施情况及其对肥胖率的影响。
我们使用半结构化问卷，收集了2015年1月至2023年12月期间沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国实施含糖饮料税的进展情况。我们检索了以阿拉伯语和英语发表的关于该主题的文献，并使用世界卫生组织加速情景建模工具预测同期含糖饮料对这两个国家超重和肥胖的潜在影响。
两国在2015年至2023年期间持续实施了含糖饮料税，增加了财政收入并降低了肥胖率。加速情景估计表明，对含糖饮料征税可使沙特阿拉伯5至19岁儿童和青少年的超重患病率从2020年的38.2%降至2030年的34.4%，使阿拉伯联合酋长国从37.0%降至34.6%，同期可使沙特阿拉伯的肥胖率降低约12.7%，阿拉伯联合酋长国降低9.5%。
本综述提供了进一步的证据，表明对含糖饮料征税可有效减少糖分摄入，从而降低超重和肥胖率。然而，要有效对抗儿童和青少年的肥胖和超重问题，税收政策必须与其他策略一起实施，包括开展公共卫生运动以提高对过量糖分摄入相关健康风险的认识。
