KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Malaysia’s move to impose a tax on sugary drinks is the right step in combating the country’s obesity problem but more needs to be done, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Its representatives to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore Marianne Clark-Hattingh and World Health Organisation representative Dr Lo Ying-Ru said among the measures that could benefit Malaysia include high-quality, healthy school meals, compulsory nutrition labelling on food and drink products, health communication campaigns, and more stringent regulation of food and drinks marketed to children.

"The healthy school breakfast programme is particularly important given that recent research suggests that around 25 per cent of Malaysian children from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds do not eat breakfast on a regular basis, which has major implications for learning,” they said in a statement.

Clark-Hattingh and Dr Lo said the introduction of an excise tax of RM0.40 per litre on sugary drinks is vital, as Malaysians’ consumption of sugary drinks has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, in tandem with rising incomes.

"More than one third (36 per cent) of students have sugary drinks at least once a day, and the average daily sugar intake for adolescents has increased from seven teaspoons in 2012 to 10 teaspoons in 2017.

"That is more than the recommended limit for adults. On average, Malaysians consume around 3kg of sugar per year in the form of sugary drinks,” they said.

This has resulted in Malaysia becoming the fattest Asian country in the world, and with the second highest child obesity rate among children in the region aged five to 19 years.

"Consuming sugary drinks contributes to weight gain and obesity, and then a range of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

"The evidence is clear: a child’s Body Mass Index goes up significantly when they have sugary drinks, and it goes down when they stop,” said Clark-Hattingh and Dr Lo.

Adding to this is the economic cost to the country, which they said is proportionally the highest in the region.

"In 2017 overweight and obesity accounted for 13.3 per cent of total health costs, 0.54 per cent of GDP or US$1.7 billion (RM7.04 billion)

"This does not include the indirect costs of lost labour productivity due to absenteeism or medical leave, a cost that Malaysia can ill afford,” said Clark-Hattingh and Dr Lo.

They said the taxation of sugary drinks has consistently been shown to reduce sugar consumption and improve health outcomes.

"For example, in the Philippines, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) taxes have reduced consumption of sugary drinks by 8.7 per cent, and a study found that they could prevent 24,000 premature deaths related to diabetes, stroke, and heart diseases.

"Similarly, in India, a 20 per cent SSB tax is projected to reduce obesity by 4.2 per cent and type 2 diabetes by 2.5 per cent. In South Africa, sugar taxes are projected to result in 220,000 fewer obese individuals in the country,” said Clark-Hattingh and Dr Lo, adding that over 50 countries worldwide have already implemented similar taxes. In the Asean region, these include Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Noting the RM0.40 per litre proposal will also raise significant revenue that can be re-invested in programmes to improve nutrition and health, they argued that short-term additional measures are also necessary.

"Unicef and WHO recommend that the government explores extending a special excise taxes to other sugar-sweetened drinks and review the sugar content thresholds for taxable goods as, in some cases, these may still be too high.

"Milk-based drinks and fruit juices that contain high amounts of sugar also contribute to overweight and obesity and consumption of these also needs to be limited,” Clark-Hattingh and Dr Lo said.

Over the long term, the tax’s adequacy ought to be reviewed up to RM1 per litre, which would be more in line with international benchmarks and the available evidence on the effectiveness of SSB taxes.

"A robust SSB tax coupled with complementary measures such as those outlined above will deliver tangible improvements to the health, productivity and well-being of Malaysia’s children.

"This will ensure we remain on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Two and continue our progress to become a healthy and productive nation,” they said.

The excise tax of 40 sen per litre on sweetened beverages was initially scheduled for implementation on April 1 but was postponed to July 1 this year.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.