The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70561

Jane Sprague Zones, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, National Women's Health Network, board of directors, 1874 Ninth Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122, 415-661-9031, jzones1@mindspring.com

Women's health organizations have become increasingly dependent upon corporate donors to support their work. This source of funding has allowed the growth of many organizations, but makes them obliged to support the interests of their benefactors in order to maintain income. There are a handful of women's health organizations that do not accept donations from businesses whose products or services might represent a conflict of interest. This presentation will address the ways in which funding affects the content and style of women's health work in an era of intense corporate marketing. Examples will be given of ways in which health-related industries are increasing their influence in partnerships with women's organizations to promote their products. Positions and informational materials related to tamoxifen to reduce breast cancer risk, new cervical screening technologies, and hormone replacement therapy will be compared relative to organizational sources of funding. Finally, we will examine ways in which women can distinguish independent feminist organizations from corporation-dependent ones in order to assure integrity of information.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: (
• describe the trend toward increasing dependence of women's health organizations on corporate support; (
• outline examples of ways in which health-related industries are increasing their influence through partnerships with women's organizations; (
• analyze the ways that corporate partnerships have affected the content and style of women's health work in an era of intense corporate marketing; (
• discuss ways that independent women's health organizations can distinguish themselves from corporation-dependent ones to assist women in finding and recognizing health information that is free from corporate marketing influences.

Keywords: Health Information, Funding

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.