The Commercial Determinants of Health

An accessible multidisciplinary overview for anyone seeking to understand the commercial determinants of health.

Our health is largely shaped by the world around us—by the conditions in which we grow, work, and live. These conditions include the commercial determinants of health, the private sector activities which influence our physical and social environments, our available evidence and solutions, and even our discourse and understanding around key health and social issues.

Until recently, commercial determinants have remained largely absent from our conceptual understanding of the drivers of health. The scale of their potential impact necessitates a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, but no book has yet explored the commercial impacts on health in their totality.

This pioneering volume sheds light on how commercial determinants shape health directly and indirectly through influencing policy, evidence, and discourse. Featuring original cross-sector research, The Commercial Determinants of Health draws on insights from a wide-ranging group of experts who introduce the commercial determinants of health and describe the proximal and distal pathways through which they affect population health. Each chapter further illustrates the health impact of commercial actors, including through multidisciplinary case studies ranging from tobacco to fossil fuels. Together, these essays seek to integrate new and emerging research across public health, economics, and policy to enrich our understanding and responses to the commercial determinants of health.