On 10 October, SPECTRUM teamed up with the Association of Directors of Public Health for a webinar on the commercial determinants of health. 18 October 2022 Chaired by Professor Linda Bauld, Director of SPECTRUM, and Dr Greg Fell, Vice-President of the Association of Directors of Public Health, the webinar provided an overview of the commercial determinants of health, industry strategies and discussed ways to counter these to improve the health of local communities. Recordings of each presentation are now available to view below, split into three parts. Part 1: An introduction to SPECTRUM and the commercial determinants of health Professor Linda Bauld (SPECTRUM) introduces the commercial determinants of health and provides an overview of the SPECTRUM consortium. Dr Greg Fell (ADPH) gives his thoughts on the commercial determinants of health and why this matters, from both a local and global perspective. Read Greg’s blog with his thoughts from the session. Part 2: How do the commercial determinants of health affect individuals and wider society? Professor Mark Petticrew (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) discusses strategies of the harmful commodity industries to influence policy and mislead the public. Professor Jamie Pearce (University of Edinburgh) explores how place-based approaches can address the commercial determinants of health. Professor Rachael Murray (University of Nottingham) presents on research into unhealthy commodity imagery in online and broadcast media. Part 3: Industry behaviour and responses Professor Anna Gilmore (University of Bath) provides an overview of the health impacts of corporate practices. Liz Arnanz (NCD Alliance) presents the findings of a report, “Signalling virtue, promoting harm”, on the tactics and strategies adopted by the unhealthy commodity industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the report from NCD Alliance. Professor Jeff Collin (University of Edinburgh) covers conflict of interest and policy coherence in NCD governance. Will Anderson and Hazel Cheeseman (Action on Smoking and Health, Smokefree Action Coalition) present the findings of a small study exploring integrated approaches to tackling risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Read our news story on the study and recent report.
