Uganda jacked up cigarette prices just before health experts around the world started demanding the same thing. The government bumped taxes on soft cap cigarettes from 55,000 to 65,000 shillings per thousand sticks back in June. Hinge lid cigarettes saw their taxes climb from 80,000 to 90,000 shillings for the same amount. Foreign cigarettes got hit even harder with taxes doubling across the board. The timing made Uganda look like fortune tellers who saw the future coming.
World Health Organization bosses announced their massive global plan just weeks after Uganda made their move. The health group wants every country to make tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks cost 50 percent more within ten years. They call their scheme the 3 by 35 initiative and launched it at a big meeting in Spain during July. Dr Jeremy Farrar from WHO says health taxes work better than almost anything else at stopping people from buying harmful products. The organization believes these moves could save 50 million lives and create over one trillion dollars for governments.
Uganda already faces serious problems with diseases that kill people slowly over time. More than one third of deaths in the country come from cancer, diabetes and heart problems. Tobacco use makes these diseases much worse and young people keep starting to smoke. Health officials believe expensive cigarettes will stop more people from picking up the habit and give hospitals more money to treat sick patients.
World Health Organization bosses announced their massive global plan just weeks after Uganda made their move. The health group wants every country to make tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks cost 50 percent more within ten years. They call their scheme the 3 by 35 initiative and launched it at a big meeting in Spain during July. Dr Jeremy Farrar from WHO says health taxes work better than almost anything else at stopping people from buying harmful products. The organization believes these moves could save 50 million lives and create over one trillion dollars for governments.
Uganda already faces serious problems with diseases that kill people slowly over time. More than one third of deaths in the country come from cancer, diabetes and heart problems. Tobacco use makes these diseases much worse and young people keep starting to smoke. Health officials believe expensive cigarettes will stop more people from picking up the habit and give hospitals more money to treat sick patients.
