Commercial determinants of health



The commercial determinants of health are the private sector activities that influence individual and group differences in health status. Commercial determinants of health can affect people's health positively (such as sport or medical industries) or negatively (such as arms and tobacco industries). They are part of the broader social determinants of health.

Types
Corporate and business activities influences the social, physical and cultural environments in which people live. For example:
 * Preference shaping through marketing, including product design (such as food formulation making it more or less healthy), packaging and advertising (enhancing the desirability and acceptability);
 * Political lobbying (impeding policy barriers such as plain tobacco packaging);
 * Supply chains (amplifying company influence around the globe);
 * Corporate social responsibility strategies (whitewashing tarnished reputations);
 * Labour conditions;
 * Financial practices;
 * Funding of science.

Impact
Commercial determinants of health impact a wide range of risk factors and noncommunicable diseases (especially cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes). For example:
 * Smoking (tobacco industry);
 * Air pollution (fossil-fuel industry);
 * Alcohol use (alcohol industry);
 * Obesity and physical inactivity (food industry);
 * Injuries on roads and from weapons (arms industry).

According to The Lancet, 'four industries (tobacco, unhealthy food, fossil fuel, and alcohol) are responsible for at least a third of global deaths per year'. In 2024, the World Health Organization published a report including these figures.