Trade Liberalization and Health: Evidence and Future Directions

The health impacts of trade liberalization have begun to receive more attention in contemporary public health scholarship. This session will present results from a systematic literature review of conceptual frameworks which explicate the relationship between trade liberalization and health. By reviewing a range of frameworks which illustrate the trade liberalization and health relationship, this presentation aims to facilitate consensus on what the relevant pathways are, highlight gaps in the literature, and direct priorities for future research. This presentation will contextualize trade liberalization within underlying processes of globalization and critically discuss the major contexts through which it impacts health. Findings indicate that research has thus far relied on overly vague conceptualizations of trade liberalization and explored a limited range of pathways.