On May 1, 2026, Jamaica's new Special Consumption Tax on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages officially took effect, the country's first health tax on sugary drinks. The tax responds to a serious and growing public health burden: 54 percent of Jamaican adults are overweight or obese, and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for 80 percent of all deaths in the country, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Among children and adolescents, obesity prevalence more than doubled between 2000 and 2016, with sugary drinks being a key driver.
Announced by Finance Minister Fayval Williams in February, the tax is a win on three fronts: it discourages the consumption of health-harming products, is projected to raise an estimated J$10.1 billion (roughly US$64 million) in its first year and creates an opportunity to reinvest those funds in public health priorities. The measure captures beverages containing added sugar, as well as those with non-nutritive sweeteners.
With the tax now in effect, Jamaica joins Barbados and Dominica as Caribbean countries that have adopted health taxes on sweetened beverages (SBs). It comes at a critical time. In Jamaica as of 2018, nearly 70% of new type 2 diabetes cases are associated with unhealthy eating, with SBs accounting for almost half of that burden. This is a powerful policy signal from the Jamaican Government that, as with tobacco and alcohol before them, SBs are health-harming products that warrant decisive action.
The foundation for this tax to come into effect was laid years earlier through sustained advocacy by Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) partners, including the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ), the Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR) at the University of the West Indies and the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN).They started making the case for an SB tax in Jamaica in 2018–2019. In January 2019, HFJ held an Experts Forum that brought together health experts, leaders from the Ministries of Health, Education, and Finance, local researchers, PAHO and global experts. The forum showed that a SB tax could meet both financial and health goals. It laid the groundwork for the tax policy that the Ministry of Finance would use years later. Unfortunately, industry pushback stalled progress, and a change in government delayed the policy window.
Civil society partners did not give up. HFJ kept making the case in public campaigns. These campaigns helped Jamaicans learn about the harms of SBs and built strong public support. One HFJ press release showed that 81 percent of Jamaicans backed a tax on sugary drinks if some of the funds went to obesity programs. Partners also shared best practices and global proof that SB taxes work and could fund broader health goals.
Throughout this period, GHAI played a central role in supporting Jamaica's path to this milestone, providing in-country partners with technical assistance across digital and traditional media strategy, sharing best practices and the latest global evidence on health taxes and offering legal consultation throughout the policy development process.
The tax came in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, which struck western Jamaica in October 2025 and caused over US$8 billion in damages. Hurricane Melissa created a financial motivation for disaster relief funds, and with the sustained advocacy, the SB tax was top of mind for the Jamaica Government which will focus on improving health.
In early 2026, the government signaled that a SB tax was on the table. Partners moved fast to shape the best version they could. HFJ and CAIHR led the technical and media work. They drove news coverage, gave interviews and met with decision-makers. Partners also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Health for the tax to fund universal health coverage. JYAN added a press release, showing that young Jamaicans backed the policy.
While this tax is an important step forward, some aspects of its design could be strengthened. The tax was originally set at J$0.02 per milliliter, which would have applied equally to all SBs. However, after industry lobbying during the post-budget debate, it was changed to J$0.22 per gram of added sugar and sweeteners. As a result of the industry lobbying, beverages with high levels of naturally occurring sugars were excluded from the scope of the tax, leaving some sugary drinks of public health concern outside the reach of the measure. Additionally, the method of taxation for non-nutritive sweeteners remains unclear, with an internal ministerial committee currently convened to determine how the tax will be applied, a process industry continues to lobby against in an effort to have this component removed altogether. A stronger design would tax total sugars, rather than only added sugars, and include syrup and powder beverage mixes, as well as annual rate adjustments for inflation and income growth.
Other gaps are also worth flagging. Jamaica lacks rules for clear back-of-pack labels, so companies will report the sugar levels of their products themselves, making the tax harder to enforce and implement effective fiscal control and oversight processes. Also, none of the revenue is set aside for public health, unlike Jamaica's tobacco and alcohol taxes, which partially fund the National Health Fund. Earmarking even a portion for NCD prevention and treatment or for the new School Nutrition Policy would strengthen the health goals of the tax.
GHAI commends the Jamaican Government's commitment and recognizes the persistence of HFJ, CAIHR, JYAN and their partners in keeping the case visible across nearly a decade of shifting political conditions. Their work offers a clear lesson for advocates around the world: building proof, public support and relationships with leaders does not lose value when a policy window closes. In fact, it lays the groundwork for when the next opening comes.
