Lecture 16 Commercial Determinants

Question 1

What are commercial determinants of health?

Answer 1

The effect of the decisions that companies make to increase profit on public health.

Question 2

Are commercial determinants well known?

Answer 2

No, they are often not considered in public health models and most people are unaware of them

Question 3

Where do commercial determinants of health lie on the dahlgren and whitehead model?

Answer 3

In the outermost arch: General socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions

Question 4

Describe the ‘Shaping the Evidence’ Strategy used by businesses

Answer 4

Shaping the evidence is a strategy businesses use where they fund research, chairs and lobbyists to promote their business.

Question 5

Describe the ‘employing narratives and framing techniques’ strategy used by businesses

Answer 5

Employing narratives and framing techniques is a strategy where businesses fund programmes seemingly aimed at reducing the negative impacts that they bring but are actually useless. Targeted at the younger generation and only focuses on individual problems. This gives the impression that they are responsible and being part of the solution.

Question 6

Describe the ‘constituency building’ strategy use by businesses

Answer 6

Constituency building is a strategy used by businesses where they fund charities and events outside of their focus area. This makes them more memorable and can also influence the decisions and actions of charities and other educational programmes

Question 7

Describe the ‘policy substitution, development and implementation’ strategy used by businesses

Answer 7

Policy substitution, development and implementation is where businesses work together with governments to develop policies that benefit them. This is an important issue in New Zealand because there is no cooldown time between being a politician and lobbying, which means a politician can use their connections to make policies beneficial for their business.

Question 8

What happened in the folic acid study?

Answer 8

A research was found where neural tube defects which were prominent in the 1990s could be prevented by adding folic acid to food. This policy was implemented in Australia and other countries but not New Zealand because of policy delays (transition from labour to national government). This meant that NTDs were not lowered in NZ while a decrease was seen in Australia.