Effectiveness of sugar sweetened beverages tax on health and healthcare costs: A systematic review

Introduction@#Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is one of many other best strategies to reduce consumption of SSB among populations. It is known that SSB consumption is the main contributor which cause obesity and further lead to non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to gather the evidence on the effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverages tax implementation, in terms of health outcome and healthcare cost benefit.@*Methods@#A systematic review was done related to literature that reported about effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverages tax implementation, in terms of health outcome and healthcare cost benefit. Four databases were used to identify the literature, namely PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus and Ovid and Medline. PRISMA flow checklist was used as a guide to search for the eligible articles.@*Results@#In total, there were sixteen eligible articles included in this systematic review. All studies are simulation studies. Results showed that both excise and ad valorem tax are effective to reduce healthcare costs and could avert diseases related to high sugar intake. Other than that, it is proven that implementing tax will gain favorable health outcome rather than do nothing. Better results seen when the tax is increased.@*Conclusion@#As a conclusion, SSB tax is proven as an effective public health intervention in terms of giving benefit to the health outcome and healthcare cost

Plain Packaging and Pictorial Warning in Asia Countries: Where are We?

@#Worldwide, around 8 million people die yearly due to tobacco usage. Cigarette smoking is the most popular form of tobacco usage. Smoking has linked to many detrimental health effects among adults and adolescents. Recognising the burden of smoking, World Health Organization have implemented various tobacco control strategies under the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control and mPOWER. This includes implementation of plain packaging and pictorial warning. In Asia, only Thailand, Singapore, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have implemented plain cigarette pack. However, some countries have made progress to implement plain cigarette pack. Although some countries have not implemented plain pack, implementation of larger pictorial warning serve as a pathway for implementation of plain packaging. Countries with pictorial warning on cigarette pack should ensure it covers at least 50% of pack. Timor Leste has the largest pictorial warning on cigarette pack in the world. In conclusion, only 5 countries in Asia have implemented plain pack and some countries in this region are yet to implement size of pictorial warning according to requirement of World Health Organization. All countries should target to implement standardized pack to denormalise tobacco usage.