The National Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance is calling on the government to increase taxes on certain harmful commodities that expose consumers to non-communicable diseases.
Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as cancers, heart attacks, chronic respiratory diseases, asthma, and many others account for over 80,000 deaths in Ghana annually.
These non-communicable diseases are mostly caused by the intake of tobacco, alcohol and many other unhealthy diets, and some too are genetic.
Over 85 percent of premature NCD deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.
The National Coordinator of Ghana NCD Alliance, Labram Musah in an interview with Citi News called on the government to increase the taxes on these commodities to serve as a disincentive to those who patronize them.
“We are proposing certain recommendations like increasing tax on tobacco, alcohol and other unhealthy commodities so that, they become so expensive because these products are cheap on the market.
“If you have one Ghana cedi, you can buy cigarettes so we are calling for taxes on these commodities especially to protect the young, poor and the vulnerable in the society. Because it’s a big problem”.
‘Non-communicable diseases fatal and counter-productive to development’ – Dr. Beatrice Wiafe