The current levy is too low to change what anyone drinks. We are making the case for a rate and structure that would.
A sugar content based levy set at a rate high enough to change consumption, with revenue directed to health services.
Modelling of consumption and revenue effects at several rate and structure options.
Health economists, consumer organisations and clinicians aligned behind a single proposal.
We are hereFormal submission to the Ministry of Finance ahead of a budget cycle.
Adoption in the Finance Act.
Uganda taxes sugar sweetened beverages, but the rate is low enough that it changes government revenue more than it changes what people drink.
The evidence from countries that set the rate high enough is consistent: consumption falls, reformulation follows, and the revenue can be earmarked for the health services that treat the resulting disease. The design detail matters more than the headline. A tax on volume behaves differently from a tax on sugar content.
We are building the fiscal and legal case for a rate and a structure that would actually shift behaviour.
Getting a plain warning onto the front of every ultra processed pack sold in Uganda, so a shopper knows what is inside before it reaches the pot.
Where it stands Nutrient Profile Model signed February 2026
The first law of its kind in East Africa. It would protect indigenous seed, curb agrochemicals and make agroecology the region's default rather than its exception.
Where it stands Tabled before the EALA ATNR Committee May 2026