Health and [corporate] rights: Paradox or paradigm?

Globalization in the era of neoliberalism has encouraged the privatization of healthcare in the developing world at the same time that it has created ‘corporate rights' under trade agreements, such as NAFTA and DR-CAFTA. At the confluence of these two phenomena, some transnational corporations are pursuing ‘health and development' projects, with the support of IFC/World Bank loans. Such loans must include poverty reduction strategies; they lend millions of dollars, prestige, and good public relations to companies which may have no prior experience in either primary healthcare delivery or development work. This paper examines the potential conflict of interest between corporate rights and human rights, profit motive and provision of healthcare, using the example of a US/Canadian mining company with loans to conduct gold mining and concurrent health/development work in rural Guatemala. A case study of this corporation, in three different contexts, attempts to illuminate parallels between inequity in access to health care and inequitable trade policies in both NAFTA and now DR-CAFTA. In addition, the individual health risks of heap leach gold mining are compared with the potential benefits of improved access to preventive medicine. Policy recommendations for enhanced models of ‘corporate social responsibility,' are suggested and include minimum criteria for community and local government involvement, sustainability, and external oversight and transparency. A method of implementation for these recommendations is described.