WEEKLY ALCOHOL ISSUES
Week 17, April 26 – April 30, 2021
This week’s Special Feature covers WHO, global health governance and commercial determinants of health, especially conflicts of Interest and corporate interference via the New WHO Foundation…
Alcohol issues from our Policy Newsfeed cover the introduction of minimum unit pricing in Ireland; cancer deaths caused by alcohol in Sweden; and rising cases of addiction in France during the pandemic…
Alcohol issues from our Science Digest cover one study about alcohol availability (outlet density and trading hours) and violence in nightlife settings; and a study examining how the alcohol industry exploits motherhood…
Alcohol issues from our Big Alcohol Watch expose how Facebook harvest sensitive data from minors to make it available for health harmful products advertisers; and a brand new study showing that alcohol advertising is appealing to minors…
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Special Feature – Week 17
Commercial Determinants of Health and the WHO: Conflicts of Interest at the New WHO Foundation
The WHO Foundation has been launched as a way to broaden the WHO donor pool. But there is a serious lack of clarity about the applicability of Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA) norms and practices to this new entity.
Considering past failed initiatives, and how many global health challenges, including non-communicable diseases and climate change, are driven by powerful transnational companies, the WHO is in danger of being regarded as sacrificing its independence or impartiality to the commercial determinants of health in pursuit of funding.
For the 16th episode of the Alcohol Issues Podcast host Maik Dünnbier welcomes Professor Jeffrey Collin and Dr Nason Maani. They discuss the topic of global health governance, the importance of WHO’s independence and the challenges posed by commercial determinants of health. They also analyze key conflict of interest issues that threaten the credibility and norm-setting function of the World Health Organization. This topic is brought into sharp focus by the newly created WHO Foundation and how it decides to treat the alcohol industry and other health harmful corporate giants, such as Nestle.
Understanding alcohol industry interference at WHO and conflict of interest in global health governance
Four articles, covering a period of four years from 2017 to 2021, giving a good overview of the dangers of, concern about, and real examples in alcohol industry interference in WHO policy making and conflicts of interest undermining global health governance.
Commercial determinants of health
Scientific studies and policy-making perspectives on commercial determinants of health, their power, interference and impact.
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