Author
Listed:
- Ifeanyichi, Martilord
- Dim, Cyril
- Bognini, Maeve
- Kebede, Meskerem
- Singh, Darshita
- Onwujekwe, Obinna
- Hargest, Rachel
- Friebel, Rocco
Abstract
This study determined the feasibility of investing revenues raised through Nigeria’s sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax of 10 Naira/l to support the implementation of the National, Surgical, Obstetrics, Anaesthesia and Nursing Plan, which aims to strengthen access to surgical care in the country. We conducted a mixed-methods political economy analysis. This included a modelling exercise to predict the revenues from Nigeria’s SSB tax based on its current tax rate over a period of 5 years, and for several scenarios such as a 20% ad valorem tax recommended by the World Health Organization. We performed a gap analysis to explore the differences between fiscal space provided by the tax and the implementation cost of the surgical plan. We conducted qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and performed thematic analyses to identify opportunities and barriers for financing surgery through tax revenues. At its current rate, the SSB tax policy has the potential to generate 35 914 111 USD in year 1, and 189 992 739 USD over 5 years. Compared with the 5-year adjusted surgical plan cost of 20 billion USD, the tax accounts for ∼1% of the investment required. There is a substantial scope for further increases in the tax rate in Nigeria, yielding potential revenues of up to 107 663 315 USD, annually. Despite an existing momentum to improve surgical care, there is no impetus to earmark sugar tax revenues for surgery. Primary healthcare and the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases present as the most favoured investment areas. Consensus within the medical community on importance of primary healthcare, along the recent government transition in Nigeria, offers a policy window for promoting a higher SSB tax rate and an adoption of other sin taxes to generate earmarked funds for the healthcare system. Evidence-based advocacy is necessary to promote the benefits from investing into surgery.
Suggested Citation
Ifeanyichi, Martilord & Dim, Cyril & Bognini, Maeve & Kebede, Meskerem & Singh, Darshita & Onwujekwe, Obinna & Hargest, Rachel & Friebel, Rocco, 2024.
"Can sugar taxes be used for financing surgical systems in Nigeria? A mixed-methods political economy analysis,"
LSE Research Online Documents on Economics
122863, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
Handle:
RePEc:ehl:lserod:122863
Download full text from publisher
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:122863. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.