Scheme to make nutritious food cheaper – Health Minister

Barbadians can look forward to the removal of taxes on some foods considered nutritious and healthy choices, Minister of Health and Wellness Lt Col Jeffrey Bostic declared Wednesday.

A new set of protocols are being developed to once and for all tackle the issue of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), he said.

At the same time, notable economist Dr Justin Ram is suggesting that Government consider putting a tax on one of Barbados’ iconic export, sugar, in an effort to help wrestle the health crisis and engage Barbadians in a more prolific education campaign on lifestyle diseases.

The health minister and the economist were speaking during an online Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) discussion on’The Health and Economic Nexus in a COVID-19 Era. They both agreed that the pandemic had exposed several of the island’s vulnerabilities and highlighted the link between health and economic activities.

Lt Col Bostic acknowledged that while some work is being done to help Barbadians to improve their health, a lot more can be done to fully address the root causes of NCDs and to encourage people to take better care of themselves.

He said his ministry was working closely with both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance to upgrade a national plan against NCDs that would serve for the next five years.

The health minister said: “It has to go to Parliament, but this plan includes a national cardiac plan and a lot of that plan is in progress. There is a national cancer plan. It also speaks to a national nutrition plan and the first part of that plan has been completed, which is a school’s nutrition policy.

“We are in the final stages with the Ministry of Education before that is documented and put out there so that we can start it from the next school year because childhood obesity is a matter that we have to address and wrestle to the ground before that translates into more serious problems going down the road.

“I have approached and included in that NCD plan, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs for them to take some taxes off a basket of items that we want to make available and easily [affordable] to persons, of healthy foods. If we don’t do that, then the other things won’t go very far.”

It is estimated that some 78 per cent of all deaths and 76 per cent of premature deaths in adults aged 30 to 69 in the Caribbean are attributed to NCDs and that one in three Caribbean children is either overweight or obese.

Lt Col Bostic said he believed the link between health and the economy is critical, pointing out that workplace productivity was negatively affected if the population was unhealthy.

He said Government has already started to ramp up its efforts in the fight against NCDs by “trying desperately” to increase health care service at the community level and will be implementing an NCD grant scheme to assist eligible individuals in buying the equipment or food they need to fight against NCDs.

While agreeing that the taxes on healthy food options should be lowered, Dr Ram also suggested that a new tax be implemented on sugar. And he called for greater education awareness, especially in primary and secondary schools.

The economist said: “There are certain things that give us negative externalities in economics, and when that happens we need to discourage those types of behaviours. I believe that sugary drinks and consuming too much sugar is something we really need to discourage right now.

“Perhaps the Government might want to consider some type of tax on sugar. For example, I know they have done that in the United Kingdom. I know that a tax is never always a popular thing but I think the time has come for us to show that unhealthy food is much more expensive than healthy food and if the market isn’t doing that for us then we need to step in as policymakers through the tax system to correct that abnormality in the market.”

Back in 2015, Government imposed a 10 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which several officials and organizations including the Healthy Caribbean Coalition hailed as a “step in the right direction” in tackling the NCD scourge. Some have also called for that tax to be increased over the years.

The Barbados Employers Confederation’s former president, Marguerite Estwick, raised concern that while messages were going out to discourage children from consuming sweetened beverages, they were still being made readily available, and in most instances, cheaper than the healthier options.

She issued an urgent call for authorities to “step back” and consider putting walking areas into their land development plans.

“It is very dangerous to attempt to walk in Barbados,” said Estwick. “And we read in the newspapers [often] about the significant dangers that cyclists endure trying to cycle. I am saying, we have to step beyond just the talk and the slides to looking at the infrastructure and the physical accessibility.

“We cannot have a national policy that is talking about NCDs and it is not sustained by thoughtful application as to how we support the population as it attempts the transition. The transition is going to take some time but we have to move beyond the talk to action.”

Lt Col Bostic, who indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had thwarted his ministry’s weekly hikes that would sometimes attract up to 400 people, said the new Town and Country Planning policy allows for any new development to take into account tracks for walking. (MM)