Drawing from international examples, a popular medical journal, BMJ, has called for taxation of unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages to stall their rising consumption in South Asian Nations including India.
South Asian nations are facing growing threat of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic kidney diseases. South Asians are more susceptible to develop these conditions early, and this is aggravated further by the changing lifestyle and diets, and lack of physical activity, says the recommendations.
The BMJ, a leading international medical journal known as champion for evidence based medicine and patient centric healthcare, on Wednesday launched collection from 60 authors on 'Health in South Asia' to identify health priorities and recommendations to improve health of populations in this fast-growing region of the world.
Javaid Khan from Aga Khan University, Pakistan, has also proposed that governments in the region should consider raising taxes on cigarettes and tobacco products. "This is the single most effective intervention to curb smoking as South Asia experiences rising rates of smoking but very poor cessation," he said.
The collection was launched by Dr. Kamran Abbasi, executive editor of The BMJ. "The collection of articles on health in South Asia spells out the extent of the health challenges facing this region and the possible solutions." The arguments in the collection are based on science and evidences in the collection.
Southeast Asia consists of the ten independent countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam - collectively known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
According to United Nations, with increasing longevity, the pace of increase in numbers of the oldest old (aged 80 years and older) in Southeast Asia is projected to exceed that of East Asia over the period 2025-2050. "This rise will have important implications for management of the burden of disease and healthcare provision for elderly people," UN said.
South Asia is home to more than half-a-billion people spread over highly diverse countries. In comparison with India and China, Southeast Asia is less visible in global politics and economics.
