Etienne Krug
Director, Social Determinants, World Health Organization
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Etienne Krug
“This much needed and unprecedented resource tackles the 'elephant in the room'―the dramatic impacts of for-profit enterprises on global health. As a World Health Organization priority area, these commercial determinants of health must be understood and addressed to improve health, wellbeing, and equity. This book's depth and scope across geographies, populations, and industries is a valuable resource. I encourage anyone working in global health or interested in how industries impact the world around us to read it and apply its messages.” (from Amazon)
An accessible multidisciplinary overview for anyone seeking to understand the commercial determinants of health Our health is largely shaped by the world around us―by the conditions in which we grow, work, and live. These conditions include the commercial determinants of health, the private sector activities which influence our physical and social environments, our available evidence and solutions, and even our discourse and understanding around key health and social issues. Until recently, commercial determinants have remained largely absent from our conceptual understanding of the drivers of health. The scale of their potential impact necessitates a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, but no book has yet explored the commercial impacts on health in their totality. This pioneering volume sheds light on how commercial determinants shape health directly and indirectly through influencing policy, evidence, and discourse. Featuring original cross-sector research, The Commercial Determinants of Health draws on insights from a wide-ranging group of experts who introduce the commercial determinants of health and describe the proximal and distal pathways through which they affect population health. Each chapter further illustrates the health impact of commercial actors, including through multidisciplinary case studies ranging from tobacco to fossil fuels. Together, these essays seek to integrate new and emerging research across public health, economics, and policy to enrich our understanding and responses to the commercial determinants of health.