Impact of Corporations on Community Health: Disease Promotion and its Remedies

In the 21st century, the business and political practices of corporations have become a dominant social determinant of health. This session describes some of the pathways by which the global, national and local practices of corporations influence health and health inequalities at the community level. Through business practices such as product design, advertising, retailing and pricing and political practices such as lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations corporations and their allies influence lifestyles, living conditions and social and physical environments. These in turn determine the prevalence and distribution of illness and health. In recent decades, public health professionals, community organizations, some public officials, and social movement have mobilized to confront the health damaging practices of the alcohol, automobile, food and beverage, firearms, pharmaceutical, tobacco and other industries. For example, activists have forced tobacco companies to withdraw products targeted at African Americans, drug companies to lower prices of needed medications, fast food companies to re-formulate their products, and automakers to improve safety and pollution control. At the same time, however, multinational companies have dominated trade agreements, resisted more effective public health regulation and moved marketing of their most dangerous products to poor communities and nations, thus exacerbating health inequalities. By analyzing the accomplishments, limitation and challenges of these initiatives, public health professionals can identify new approaches to improving population health.