Harare (New Ziana)-In response to concerns about the link to increased risk of non-communicable diseases, Finance Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube on Thursday introduced a US$0.02 levy per gram of sugar contained in beverages, excluding water, with effect from 1 January 2024.
In his 2024 budget presentation, Prof Ncube said funds derived from the levy will be ring-fenced for therapy and procurement of cancer equipment for diagnosis.
“The consumption of high sugar content beverages is linked to increased risk of non-communicable diseases. It is, thus, necessary to discourage consumption of high sugar content beverages, hence, I propose to introduce a levy of US$0.02 per gram of sugar contained in beverages, excluding water, with effect from 1 January 2024.
There have been calls for the government to consider introducing a levy to be used to subsidise the high costs of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
This is in light of the increase in cancer cases and high mortality rate, which have seen the disease, which is technological and capital intensive, overtaking HIV and Aids as the country’s number one killer.
According to the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry, in 2018 Zimbabwe recorded 7 841 new cancer cases and 2 743 cancer deaths.
The deaths are increasing and among the incidences the majority of them are women, that is 57.9 percent, and also among the deaths 54.5 are women.
Zimbabwe has earned plaudits for its efforts to prevent and end HIV and AIDS with much of the success being credited to the AIDS Levy which has enabled the accumulation of funds for use in the fight against the pandemic.
New Ziana
