The increase in taxes on sodas and sugary beverages in Mexico , announced as a strategy to fight obesity and chronic diseases, is a positive step but insufficient given the magnitude of the problem, warned Dr. Octavio Gómez Dantés, a public health expert.

According to the specialist, although the fiscal measure seeks to discourage consumption of harmful products and generate additional resources, the reality is that it looks more like a revenue mechanism in a context of weakened public finances.

“In Mexico we have chronic underinvestment in health . Public health spending is the lowest among upper-middle-income countries in Latin America. Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, and Costa Rica spend much more than we do, while we are facing an epidemiological transition toward complex

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