Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Sharon Friel, Jeff Collin, Mike Daube, Anneliese Depoux, Nicholas Freudenberg, Anna B. Gilmore, Paula Johns, Amos Laar, Robert Marten, Martin McKee, Melissa Mialon
Summary: This paper discusses the future role of the commercial sector in global health and health equity. It does not propose the overthrow of capitalism or full support for corporate partnerships. There is no single solution to eliminate the harms caused by commercial determinants of health, but evidence suggests that progressive economic models, international frameworks, government regulation, compliance mechanisms, and strategic civil society mobilisation can collectively bring about systemic, transformative change to reduce these harms and promote human and planetary wellbeing. The question is not whether the world has the resources or will to act, but whether humanity can survive without making these efforts.
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Belinda Townsend, Timothy D. Johnson, Rob Ralston, Katherine Cullerton, Jane Martin, Jeff Collin, Fran Baum, Liz Arnanz, Rodney Holmes, Sharon Friel
Summary: This narrative review identified a variety of 'inside' and 'outside' strategies used by NGOs to influence the commercial determinants of health. Through a systematic search, a total of 144 studies were included in the analysis, categorizing 18 types of NGO strategies targeting commercial and government actors. This analysis presents a matrix of NGO strategies and their impact on industry sectors, providing a framework for evaluating NGO effectiveness and influence conditions.
GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Alessandro Connor Crocetti, Beau Cubillo (Larrakia), Mark Lock (Ngiyampaa), Troy Walker (Yorta Yorta), Karen Hill (Torres Strait Islander), Fiona Mitchell (Mununjali), Yin Paradies (Wakaya), Kathryn Backholer, Jennifer Browne
Summary: The study found that commercial industry activities have significant impacts on the health and well-being of Indigenous populations in high-income countries, with extractive (mining), tobacco, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, alcohol, and gambling industries playing roles. While harmful commercial practices such as exploitation of Indigenous land, marketing, lobbying, and corporate social responsibility were common, there were also positive activities that reinforced cultural expression, cultural continuity, and Indigenous self-determination. Few articles highlighted Indigenous involvement in the study design and implementation, indicating the need for more Indigenous-led or collaborative research on commercial determinants of Indigenous health.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Paul Ndebele, Perrin Krisko, Imran Bari, Nino Paichadze, Adnan A. Hyder
Summary: This paper explores industry influence on public health using a specific case study and applies an ethical framework to evaluate the impact of industry strategies and practices. The case study of Coca-Cola reveals low ethical integrity in promoting harmful products.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Anna B. Gilmore, Alice Fabbri, Fran Baum, Adam Bertscher, Krista Bondy, Ha-Joon Chang, Sandro Demaio, Agnes Erzse, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sharon Friel, Karen J. Hofman, Paula Johns, Safura Abdool Karim, Jennifer Lacy-Nichols, Camila Maranha Paes de Carvalho, Robert Marten, Martin McKee, Mark Petticrew, Lindsay Robertson, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Anne Marie Thow
Summary: Although commercial entities can have positive impacts on health and society, evidence shows that some commercial actors, especially the largest transnational corporations, are responsible for escalating rates of avoidable ill health, planetary damage, and social and health inequity. The paper highlights the shift towards market fundamentalism and the power of transnational corporations, which enable commercial actors to cause harm and externalize the costs. This power imbalance leads to policy inertia and escalating health harms, while governments must take action to protect future generations and promote development and economic growth.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Farshid Alaeddini, Hamed Tavolinejad, Hamid Esmailzadeh
Summary: This paper introduces a new framework for understanding health systems, emphasizing the definition of input, process, and output, and suggesting the definition of support systems. This concept simplifies the implementation and evaluation of policies at different levels.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Review
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Rienna G. Russo, Yan Li, Lan N. Doan, Shahmir H. Ali, David Siscovick, Simona C. Kwon, Stella S. Yi
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the burden of disease associated with social determinants of health in the United States, highlighting the disparities in health outcomes. Research shows that the pandemic has negatively impacted social determinants of health and cardiovascular risk factors, disproportionately affecting low-income and minority communities.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
(2021)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Nicholas Freudenberg, Kelley Lee, Kent Buse, Jeff Collin, Eric Crosbie, Sharon Friel, Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, Joana Madureira Lima, Robert Marten, Melissa Mialon, Marco Zenone
Summary: The concept of commercial determinants of health (CDoH) has gained significant attention, but lacks a clear definition and metrics. By tracing its origins and proposing an expanded framework, there is potential to use CDoH for global and national health improvement, as well as reducing health inequities.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2021)
Editorial Material
Surgery
Kathryn K. Taylor, Andrew M. Ibrahim, John W. Scott
Summary: The authors evaluate access to surgical care using the domains of timeliness, workforce density, infrastructure, safety, and affordability and discuss how such a framework could be applied in the United States.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sebastian Walsh, Richard Merrick, Carol Brayne
Summary: Over the past two decades, there has been a disconnect between neurological and neuroscientific research and our understanding of the social and commercial determinants of health. Grounding neurological research in public health principles can lead to a paradigm shift towards reducing inequalities and improving neurological health equity.
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Kimberly Lakin, Sumit Kane
Summary: This paper argues that people's expectations of healthcare are shaped by their social locations and experiences. By reviewing key texts across disciplines, an analytical framework is proposed to better understand individuals' expectations in healthcare.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Arianna Gentilini, Iva Parvanova
Summary: This study aimed to assess the relationship between funding from UK-based patient organisations and companies' commercial interests. The results show that almost all funds from pharmaceutical companies were directed to patient organisations that are aligned with companies' approved drug portfolios and research and development pipelines. Patient organisations focusing on rare diseases received more funding relative to the number of patients affected by these conditions and relied more heavily on payments from fewer companies compared to organisations targeting non-rare diseases.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Minashree Kumari, Arun Kumar
Summary: The study developed a risk framework to assess the combined exposure of antibiotics and nanoparticles in natural waters for the first time. Although the expected risk values were observed to be less than 1, continuous monitoring and analysis of the contaminants in water is needed to protect humans from potential adverse effects.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jennifer Lacy-Nichols, Alexandra Jones, Kent Buse
Summary: Addressing the Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) is crucial for achieving health equity and meeting the health-related targets of the SDGs. This study presents a visual heuristic of three core aspects of CDoH and highlights the need for more research and evidence from the Global South, particularly on effective strategies to curb harmful impacts. It also proposes an agenda and actions for different stakeholders to address CDoH, emphasizing the importance of focusing on system-level changes to improve health equity.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Kelley Lee, Nicholas Freudenberg
Summary: The shared challenges of producing and distributing health-harming products have led to the recognition of the need for policy learning and transfer across various problems, populations, and social contexts. The commercial determinants of health (CDoH) concept describes the consequences of for-profit actors and activities on population health and the social structures that uphold them. Effective strategies to mitigate harms from CDoH include behavioral change, regulation, fiscal policies, activism, and litigation. Combining strategies is generally more impactful, and there is a need to adapt them to specific populations and social contexts by addressing gaps in evidence. Overall, addressing CDoH requires integrated strategies to reduce exposure to health-harming commercial actors and activities, rather than simply reducing consumption of harmful products.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
International Relations
Catherine Z. Worsnop, Karen A. Grepin, Kelley Lee, Summer Marion
Summary: Some international agreements fail to achieve their goals due to the unintended consequences of information provision. The World Health Organization's International Health Regulations aim to provide public health protection while minimizing interference in international traffic. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented border restrictions despite WHO's recommendations against such policies. Research suggests that information from WHO about outbreak spread and severity leads to inconsistent border restrictions by states.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES
(2023)
Article
Development Studies
Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, Simon Darnell
Summary: Despite growth in the SFD sector, little research has been done on how SFD organizations attract communities and retain members in their programs. This study examines how and why MLSE Launchpad, an SFD facility in downtown Toronto, attracts participants and why community members engage in its programs. Findings show that 'development' activities without sport components were the main attraction for participants, filling social and community service gaps. These findings shed light on the neoliberal structures and significance of SFD in urban communities.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Jennifer Lacy-Nichols, Sulakshana Nandi, Melissa Mialon, Jim McCambridge, Kelley Lee, Alexandra Jones, Anna B. Gilmore, Sandro Galea, Cassandra de Lacy-Vawdon, Camila Maranha Paes de Carvalho, Fran Baum, Rob Moodie
Summary: Most public health research on the commercial determinants of health to date has focused on a narrow segment of commercial actors, primarily the transnational corporations producing tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods. However, there is a lack of clear frameworks for differentiating among commercial entities, hindering the governance of commercial interests in public health. This paper aims to develop a framework that enables meaningful distinctions among diverse commercial entities, allowing for a fuller consideration of their impact on health outcomes.
Letter
Medicine, General & Internal
Kent Buse, J. V. R. Prasada Rao, Vivian Lin
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Dori Patay, Rob Ralston, Aliyah Palu, Alexandra Jones, Jacqui Webster, Kent Buse
Summary: This paper introduces the Governance Typology for Public Private Engagement in the Nutrition Sector, which conceptualizes different forms of engagement with the food industry in tackling diet-related noncommunicable disease. The typology covers different levels of industry and civil society actor engagement, types of industry actors being engaged, and the substantive policy focus of engagement. It aims to inform national level nutrition policy makers on good engagement practices and can be extended to other industries that profit from products detrimental to human and planetary health.
GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Dejen Yemane Tekle, Emalie Rosewarne, Joseph Alvin Santos, Kathy Trieu, Kent Buse, Aliyah Palu, Anne Marie Thow, Stephen Jan, Jacqui Webster
Summary: Despite slow policy adoption and high sodium consumption, this analysis aims to identify gaps and opportunities for salt reduction in Ethiopia by examining relevant policy documents. The study found that while the government has established policy frameworks, there is room for improvement in implementation and addressing inequities.
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Michel Sidibe, Abdoul Dieng, Kent Buse
BMJ-BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Didier Wernli, Jean-Luc Falcone, Stephan Davidshofer, Kelley Lee, Bastien Chopard, Nicolas Levrat
Summary: From a complexity perspective, multilateral diplomacy is built on interactions between people, ideas, norms, policies, and institutions. Using a computer-assisted methodology, this article analyzes World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions from 1948 to 2022 to understand the network of norms in governance systems. The findings reveal a complex network of interconnected global health issues, characterized by different community patterns. This research highlights the relevance of network analysis in understanding global health norms and suggests extending the computational approach to explore the impact of regime complexity on global health diplomacy.
Article
Substance Abuse
Ross MacKenzie, Benjamin Hawkins, Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, Mustafa Ahmad, Amanda Keys Norman, Adam Koon
Summary: The opioid crisis in the United States has resulted in a significant number of deaths and is expected to continue to rise. Recent settlements in litigation have provided access to previously confidential corporate documents related to the opioid industry. These documents offer insights into the operations and strategies of manufacturers and other actors in the opioid supply chain. The availability of these documents is important for researching the causes and effects of the opioid crisis, as well as understanding the role of corporate actors in public health outcomes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY
(2023)
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Sarah Nutter, Laura A. Eggerichs, Taniya S. Nagpal, Ximena Ramos Salas, Christine Chin Chea, Shubo Saiful, Johanna Ralston, Olivia Barata-Cavalcanti, Claudia Batz, Louise A. Baur, Susie Birney, Sheree Bryant, Kent Buse, Michelle I. Cardel, Aastha Chugh, Ada Cuevas, Mychelle Farmer, Allison Ibrahim, Ishu Kataria, Catherine Kotz, Ted Kyle, Sara le Brocq, Vicki Mooney, Clare Mullen, Joe Nadglowski, Margot Neveux, Karin Papapietro, Jaynaide Powis, Rebecca M. Puhl, Bernardo Rea Ruanova, Jessica F. Saunders, Fatima Cody Stanford, Ogweno Stephen, Kwang Wei Tham, Agbo Urudinachi, Lesly Vejar-Renteria, Danielle Walwyn, John Wilding, Saifullah Yusop
Summary: This article discusses the definition and significance of weight stigma and presents nine recommendations for reducing harmful obesity narratives on a global scale.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, Joel Lexchin, Abhimanyu Sud, Itai Bavli
Summary: This study examines how the pharmaceutical industry strategically frames marketing and advertising as information and education, rather than advertising, in order to serve their own interests. These framing strategies have significant implications for the industry's ability to influence healthcare professionals, patients, and the general public.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Catherine Z. Worsnop, Samuel Nass, Karen Ann Grepin, Kelley Lee
Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO's initial recommendation against travel or trade restrictions was challenged as virtually all countries implemented such measures. This analysis compares the WHO's Temporary Recommendations on international travel and trade measures during all seven Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEICs), finding a lack of clarity and consistency in the guidance. Recommendations are offered to improve the consistency and clarity of WHO's guidance during global health emergencies.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, Amy Shawanda
Summary: To date, there has been limited consideration of the interconnection between colonization and the commercial determinants of Indigenous health. This paper aims to address this important oversight. It proposes how four losses of tradition resulting from colonialism are intertwined with four respective commercial determinants of Indigenous health. By drawing on Indigenous efforts to decolonize spaces and assert autonomy, the authors argue that examining the ways in which industry activities intersect with colonial legacies will enhance understanding of Indigenous health disparities.
GLOBAL HEALTH PROMOTION
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Sarah Hawkes, Mireille Evagora-Campbell, Aysha Zahidie, Fauziah Rabbani, Kent Buse
Summary: Labour migrants often face health inequities due to social and structural determinants. This study examined the labour migrant health ecosystem between Pakistan and Qatar and assessed the policies in both countries in relation to global guidance, equity, and accountability. The findings revealed limited implementation potential, minimal consideration of gender, equity, and rights, and a lack of coordination among stakeholders. Effectively addressing health determinants for labour migrants requires a shift in government attitudes towards migrants as deserving equality and rights.
HEALTH POLICY AND PLANNING
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Misimi Kakoti, Devaki Nambiar, Amy Bestman, Damian Garozzo-Vaglio, Kent Buse
Summary: Global health research should aim to address power imbalances and inequities in health systems and societies. The integration of equity considerations in research practices aligns with efforts to promote equitable partnerships among researchers and communities impacted by their research. Lessons from a pilot study using the '8Quity' tool, which assesses the integration of equity in research practices, are described. The tool comprises eight domains of equity and provides practical resources for each domain. While tools like 8Quity are helpful, broader societal changes are necessary to ensure equity in research.
HEALTH POLICY AND PLANNING
(2023)
