GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday urged countries to massively increase the price of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks to raise public revenue and cut chronic disease.

The global body said prices should be raised by at least 50 per cent by 2035 because increased consumption was fuelling an epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

It pointed to a recent report that suggested that a one-time 50-per-cent price hike on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks could prevent 50 million premature deaths over the next 50 years.

“Health taxes are one of the most efficient tools we have,” said the WHO’s assistant director-general of health promotion and disease prevention and control, Jeremy Farrar.

“They cut the consumption of harmful products and create revenue governments can reinvest in health care, education and social protection. It’s time to act.”

The WHO’s “3 by 35” initiative comes at a time when health systems are under huge pressure from increasing numbers of NCDs, shrinking development aid and ballooning public debt.

The introduction of health taxes has seen reduced consumption and increased revenue, a statement said, calling for a review of some countries’ continued tax incentives for “unhealthy industries” such as tobacco.

NCDs account for more than 75 per cent of all deaths across the world, according to the WHO. Tobacco on its own causes more than seven million deaths every year.

Increasing taxation would generate an extra US$1 trillion in public revenue in the next 10 years, it added.

“Between 2012 and 2022, nearly 140 countries raised tobacco taxes, which resulted in an increase of real prices by over 50 per cent on average, showing that large-scale change is possible,” the WHO said.