Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

161 recommendations of the World Health Organization (PAHO, 2015) to apply taxes on sugary drinks as an effective strategy to reduce sugar consumption and prevent obesity and other diet-related diseases. Latin America has two leading countries in public food and nutrition policies related to taxes on unhealthy foods: Mexico and Chile. The results of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax implemented in Mexico (Sánchez-Romero et al., 2020) showed that after the implementation of taxes, the percentage of people consuming these beverages moderately to frequently decreased from 50% to 43%, while the percentage of non-consumers rose from 10% to 14%. Chile also shows a decrease in the consumption of sugary drinks after the implementation of taxes (Caro et al., 2018; Caro et al., 2020; Nakamura et al., 2018). Likewise, subsidies for healthy foods as another structural fiscal measure have shown to be effective in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in the population (An, 2013; Sisnowski et al., 2017). The recommendation from the WHO is to subsidize the price of fresh fruits and vegetables by at least 10% and ideally 30% of the baseline price (WHO, 2016). To achieve a greater impact, it is recommended to combine both fiscal policies: taxes on unhealthy foods and subsidies for healthy foods. It is important to mention that there is also sufficient evidence showing that certain interventions have no impact on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, decreasing the consumption of nutrient-poor foods or maintaining a healthy weight. These include the implementation of population food-based dietary guidelines (GABAs) (FAO, 1996), which are followed by less than 1% of the population in Latin American countries (FAO, 2014). Similarly, interventions that exclusively include food education programs have failed, without considering the influence of social determinants and the food environment on consumption habits and behavior (Contento, 2010). Management of public policies In the previous sections, we concluded that addressing this problem should be comprehensive and intersectoral and involve citizen participation. A strong narrative with argumentative content based on epidemiology, causal evidence and effective strategies should be developed to support well- founded lobbying efforts. An extensive mapping of stakeholders is necessary to identify the environment in favor or against potential policies and strategies that need to be implemented. This perspective should have a global scope, as many companies opposing these changes are international and exert pressure through their global associations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and high-level political bodies such as foreign ministries.