Corporate practices and health: a framework and mechanisms
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Corporate practices and health: a framework and mechanisms Joana Madureira Lima1* and Sandro Galea2
Abstract Background: The Global Burden of Disease estimates that approximately a third of deaths worldwide are attributable to behavioural risk factors that, at their core, have the consumption of unhealthful products and exposures produced by profit driven commercial entities. We use Steven Lukes’ three-dimensional view of power to guide the study of the practices deployed by commercial interests to foster the consumption of these commodities. Additionally, we propose a framework to systematically study corporations and other commercial interests as a distal, structural, societal factor that causes disease and injury. Our framework offers a systematic approach to mapping corporate activity, allowing us to anticipate and prevent actions that may have a deleterious effect on population health. Conclusion: Our framework may be used by, and can have utility for, public health practitioners, researchers, students, activists and other members of civil society, policy makers and public servants in charge of policy implementation. It can also be useful to corporations who are interested in identifying key actions they can take towards improving population health. Keywords: Non-communicable diseases, Transnational Corporations, Macrosocial Determinants of Health, Corporate Influence, Corporate Tactics
Background “We learn that your country is a 60 or 7000 lee away from China and yet foreign vessels come here to make great profit out of the wealth of our country. But by what right, in return, do they sell us this poisonous drug that does so much harm to the Chinese people? They may not necessarily intend to hurt us, but by putting profit above all things they are disregarding the harm they do to others”. Commissioner Kin to Queen Victoria soon before the start of the first Opium War [1820–1840].1. The Global Burden of Disease estimates that approximately a third of deaths worldwide are attributable to behavioural risk factors, including alcohol, drug and tobacco use, and poor dietary profile. Underlying these risk factors is a common aetiology: overconsumption of unhealthful products and exposures all of which are, essentially, produced by commercial entities. It therefore seems apposite to consider the role these commercial * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, Manor Rd Building, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
entities play in shaping their products, driving consumption, and in turn, influencing population health. Naturally, not all corporate products are unhealthful. Lifesaving medical technologies and medicines are produced and distributed by corporations, as are some high nutrient-low calories content foods. Furthermore, in recent years, demand for more corporate responsibility has increased and numerous companies have stated their commitment to a “Triple Bottom Line” appr
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