Abstract
Commercial determinants of health are the products and practices of private, for-profit organisations that affect population health and health equity. The practices, products and policy influence of transnational corporations are recognised as commercial determinants of health as they shape the lived environment. Transnational corporations are also part of a wider economic system of global capitalism that functions within a neoliberal regime underpinned by strong support from international organisations, including the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and most nation states. Regulating their activities to reduce their harmful human health and environmental impacts is therefore an important task for health promotion. The main purpose of our research programme on transnational corporations has been to use critical theory to develop and test a corporate health impact assessment framework in order to document the health and environmental harms of the practices and products of TNCs. This framework guides research into the products and practices of individual corporations that affect health and the regulatory environments in which they operate. The health impact assessment method has allowed us to examine transnational corporations’ global business and political practices and their local health impacts in particular countries.
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Anaf, J., Fisher, M., Baum, F. (2022). Using Critical Theory to Research Commercial Determinants of Health: Health Impact Assessment of the Practices and Products of Transnational Corporations. In: Potvin, L., Jourdan, D. (eds) Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97212-7_33
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