Work

How Could We Establish Monitoring and Surveillance of Health-Harming Corporations and Can Governments Be Trusted to Do It? Comment on "National Public Health Surveillance of Corporations in Key Unhealthy Commodity Industries – A Scoping Review and Framework Synthesis"

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: In the context of growing interest in the commercial determinants of health (CDOH) which has been defined as "the systems, practices, and pathways through which commercial actors drive health and equity," Bennett et al propose that governments implement monitoring of unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) (including tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods) as part of their routine public health surveillance. We explore the evidence underpinning that suggestion and provide details on how corporate monitoring might be practically implemented drawing on lessons from tobacco industry monitoring which has been an established part of tobacco control. While governments should actively support such an approach as part of efforts to address commercially driven health harms, we urge caution in governments undertaking monitoring and identify significant barriers to implementation, while also suggesting ways in which those barriers might be overcome.

Source: International Journal of Health Policy and Management

DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.8621

Authors: Anna B. Gilmore, Raouf Alebshehy, Stella Bialous

Institutions: University of Bath, University of California, San Francisco, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Language: English

Topic: Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

Subfield: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Medical Research Council