Praia, Cabo Verde. With the aim of creating a learning platform to facilitate the exchange of experiences between countries and partners, gather lessons learnt, and support the development of future strategies to strengthen health fiscal policies, officials from the Ministries of Finance and Health attended a regional workshop entitled “From experience to impact: lessons and innovations in tobacco and other health taxes”. This workshop was organized by the University of Cape Town, a Knowledge Center of the WHO Secretariat for Tobacco Control, in the context of tobacco taxation.

During the event, Cape Verde’s experience in tobacco taxation was presented, considered a model of success at regional level.

Cape Verde ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005 and in 2017 was one of 15 countries worldwide to benefit from the FCTC2030 Project. One of the major milestones of this project was the structural reform that took place in 2019 with the introduction of new models for tobacco taxation and the new law passed in 2022.

As results achieved from this taxation policy, we have first and foremost observed a reduction in consumption, with a 17% decrease in quantities sold between 2017 and 2025; the price of the best-selling cigarette increased by around 150%; and revenue from the special consumption tax (ICE) grew by around 909%.

These figures demonstrate that the country has been consolidating an innovative approach to the use of fiscal policies to protect public health and mobilize domestic resources. This tobacco taxation is serving as the basis for a broader reform of so-called ‘health taxation’, which also includes alcohol, sugary drinks and other products harmful to health.

However, a number of challenges were highlighted, notably the need for continuous strengthening of technical expertise; a lack of routine and robust data; the need to include new products, such as e-cigarettes; and the importance of greater institutional coordination with the reactivation of the Inter-institutional Working Group for the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (GI-ICONCTA).

During the workshop, new targets were also set for the next two years, aiming to achieve a tax burden of over 80% of the final price of tobacco; the taxation of alcoholic and sugary drinks based on their alcohol and sugar content; products with high salt and fat content taxed by the ICE based on their salt and fat levels; an effective carbon tax and a regulated carbon market in operation.

Cape Verde thus stands as a leading example in the African region in the use of fiscal policies to promote health and sustainable development.