ISLAMABAD: The Civil Society Alliance has asked the government to impose tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) as excessive consumption of the beverages in children has been linked to a number of dangerous diseases including obesity, heart disease and cancer.
Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH), National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) and Child Rights Movement (CRM) jointly held a meeting of the Civil Society Alliance to discuss the harms of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary (PANAH) , Afshan Tehseen Bajwa Chairperson NCRC and Zahra Naqvi National Coordinator CRM hosted the event. Consultant Food Policy Program (GHAI) Munawar Hussain, Squadron Leader Ghulam Abbas, political, social, medical, legal experts, journalists, and others attended the event.
Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary of PANAH, thanked the civil society and said that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the biggest cause of health burden in the world and children are the ones who are most affected by it.
“Their health is the responsibility of the government as well as parents and civil society,” he said. He said the WHO had noted in 2016 that 41 million children under the age of 5 and over 340 million children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 19 were overweight or obese.
This increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, orthopedic problems, osteoporosis, mental retardation and other diseases in children, he opined. Children who consume more than one or two sugary SSB a day have shorter sleep periods. In the light of various researches done in the world, the use of unnecessary things should be stopped, he advised.
Munawar Hussain, Consultant Food Policy Program (GHAI), briefed the participants on the dangers of sugar-sweetened beverages for children and the world’s policy to prevent them. Taxes are also a great tool to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, he added. He was of the view that the government can also increase its revenue in this way and protect people from diseases.
Afshan Tehseen Bajwa, Chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child said that children are a stepping stone to success. “If they are healthy then the country will develop,” she held.
The National Commission on the Rights of the Child is working on children’s rights across the country and is in touch with the federation and the provinces. ”Laws made for children need to be strictly enforced as sugar-sweetened beverages are the cause of diseases in children… We have to devise a strategy to keep beverages out of reach of children,” she said.
“We are fighting for the rights of the children. Excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is harmful to children,” said Hara Naqvi, National Coordinator of the Child Rights Movement. She was of the view that for the best growth of children, it is important to prevent them from using such harmful substances. Giving children a better future is also one of their rights as these children will take over the rein of the country when they are young tomorrow, she added.
The participants of the Civil Society Alliance said that the health of children should be the first responsibility of the government. They urged the government to do its duty by ensuring the health of children and adults.
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