Health Taxes for a Healthy Future: A Global Toolkit for Financing School Meals

Description

Millions of children today attend school but struggle to learn, their potential held back by the debilitating effects of malnutrition. At the same time, diets heavy in sugar, fast, and ultra-processed foods are fueling an epidemic of childhood obesity, transmitting the public health burden of non-communicable diseases across generations. This twin crisis in child nutrition demands urgent action – and the finance to back it. Properly financed and effectively delivered, healthy school meals have an untapped potential to tackle both sides of the crisis.

Could taxation of the “public bads” that drive childhood obesity play an expanded role in financing the “public goods” that would come from expanded access to high-quality school meal programs? Could health taxes provide a catalyst for the expansion of school meal programmes? And what would it take, politically and technically, to build coalitions for reform in the face of industry pushback?

This event is framed by a new Health Taxes for School Meals Toolkit prepared by ODI Global and the Sustainable Financing Initiative for School Health and Nutrition. The Toolkit explores the efficiency and equity case for health taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), alcohol, and cigarettes in developing countries. It finds that many countries are failing to optimise revenues from health taxes, and that achievable reforms could unlock the finance needed to rapidly expand school meal coverage.

Drawing on national experiences and case studies, it examines critical questions of health tax policy design, earmarking, and the political economy of building coalitions for reform needed to channel health taxes toward school meals. It will feature a presentation of key findings from the Toolkit, followed by panel discussions on the main themes.

Speakers

• Kevin Watkins, Senior Advisor, Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) (moderator)
• Akbar Harfianto, S.E., M.E., Head of Sub-Directorate for Excise Tariffs and Base Pricing at the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia
• Eric Kakoole, Assistant Commissioner, Policy Analysis, Ministry of Education, Uganda
• Harshil Parekh, Senior Technical Advisor, Development and Public Finance, ODI Global/TaxDev
• Carmen Burbano, Director, School Meals Accelerator
• Veronica Schoj, Vice President, Food and Nutrition Policy, Global Health Advocacy Incubator
• Mehrdad Ehsani, Vice President, Africa, Food, The Rockefeller Foundation
• Ceren Ozer, Global Tax Program Manager and Senior Economist, World Bank
• Celine Awuor, Chief Executive Officer from the International Institute for Legislative Affairs, Kenya

Register here to attend the virtual launch of the Health Taxes for School Meals Toolkit