The study’s results show evidence that trade agreements pose some significant health risks. Health protections in trade and investment treaties may mitigate these impacts…

Author

Pepita BarlowEmail author, Martin McKee, Sanjay Basu and David Stuckler

Citation

Barlow et al. Globalization and Health (2017) 13:13 DOI 10.1186/s12992-017-0240-x


Source
Globalization and Health
Release date
08/03/2017

The health impact of trade and investment agreements: a quantitative systematic review and network co-citation analysis

Abstract

Background

Regional trade agreements are major international policy instruments that shape macro-economic and political systems. There is widespread debate as to whether and how these agreements pose risks to public health. Here the researchers perform a comprehensive systematic review of quantitative studies of the health impact of trade and investment agreements. They identified studies from searches in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Global Health Online.

Research articles were eligible for inclusion if they were quantitative studies of the health impacts of trade and investment agreements or policy. The researchers systematically reviewed study findings, evaluated quality using the Quality Assessment Tool from the Effective Public Health Practice Project, and performed network citation analysis to study disciplinary siloes.

Results

Seventeen quantitative studies met the researchers’ inclusion criteria.

There was consistent evidence that implementing trade agreements was associated with increased consumption of processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Granting import licenses for patented drugs was associated with increased access to pharmaceuticals.

Implementing trade agreements and associated policies was also correlated with higher cardiovascular disease incidence and higher Body Mass Index (BMI), whilst correlations with tobacco consumption, under-five mortality, maternal mortality, and life expectancy were inconclusive.

Overall, the quality of studies is weak or moderately weak, and co-citation analysis revealed a relative isolation of public health from economics.

Conclusion

The researchers identified limitations in existing studies which preclude definitive conclusions of the health impacts of regional trade and investment agreements. Few address unobserved confounding, and many possible consequences and mechanisms linking trade and investment agreements to health remain poorly understood. Results from the study’s co-citation analysis suggest scope for greater interdisciplinary collaboration.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the study’s results show evidence that trade agreements pose some significant health risks. Health protections in trade and investment treaties may mitigate these impacts.


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