Powerful Allies and Weak Consensus: Towards a Deeper Understanding of how Health-Harming Industries Seek to Influence Global Health Governance Comment on "Competing Frames in Global Health Governance: An Analysis of Stakeholder Influence on the Political Declaration on Non-communicable Diseases".

Marco Zenone,Benjamin Hawkins

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2021.136

Abstract

Suzuki et al have identified commonalities in the policy positions adopted at a global forum by commercial sector actors and high-income countries (HICs), on the one hand, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), on the other, in ways that may allow commercial sector actors to block or delay evidence-based policies through the creation of political controversy. The ability of industry actors to draw on the support of the most politically and economically powerful countries for their favoured policy agenda is an important contribution to understanding the dynamics of global health governance in the area of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and beyond. Here we assess the relevance of this paper for the field of corporate actors' research and the potential avenues this opens up for further study. More specifically we emphasize the need for comparative, cross disciplinary research to examine the power of heath-harming industries and the relevance of these findings for decolonizing global health.

Highlights

Suzuki et al[1] seek to capture the ways in which different actors sought to frame policy debates and shape the 2018 United Nations (UN) Political Declaration of the Third High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NonCommunicable Diseases (NCDs)
The authors determine that proposals to govern or introduce policy interventions on health-harming industries such as the alcohol, tobacco, or ultra-processed food and beverage industries – and their role as risk factors for NCDs – were widely opposed by private commercial actors and high-income countries (HIC)
Suzuki and colleagues found that when disagreement existed between opposing policy frames – for example on the regulation of health-harming industries – these were omitted from, or at least marginalised within the final declaration

Summary

Introduction

Suzuki et al[1] seek to capture the ways in which different actors sought to frame policy debates and shape the 2018 United Nations (UN) Political Declaration of the Third High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NonCommunicable Diseases (NCDs).

Results

Conclusion