A few weeks ago Ron Labonte placed before us the very thoughtful prospect of
a proposal to the multilateral community to address the problems of policies
in the industrial and commercial sectors overriding global health and
environmental concerns. I have seen little response to this on this
listserv, though many may have responded to him directly for a copy of the
concept paper he offered to send by attachment. I want to encourage Ron and
any others who are stimulated intellectually, professionally or politically
to enter this fray because it is an issue crying for wider discussion and
demanding professional input from health promotion professionals in defining
health impact.
My only insight from professional experience in this is that when we seek to
call into question the policies or practices of other sectors as to their
impact on health, we often find ourselves in a very weak debating position
if we have no clear documentation of a pathway between practices and health
goals or objectives to show where the proposed policy or practice of the
other sector deviates from this pathway. Several national governments, and
several provinces within Canada (and states within the U.S. and Australia)
have adopted a process of systematic concensus building around goals and
targets for population health. Some have done a better job than others in
reflecting social determinants and reducing social inequities in their goals
and targets. In a study we conducted on Health Impact Assessment for Health
Canada, we found precious few instances of successful challenges from the
federal health sector to other sectors on proposed policies that could
affect health. We attributed this largely to the absence of any clear goals,
objectives or targets in the federal health ministry. A notable exception
was in tobacco control, where national objectives have been developed and
agreed upon by government and NGOs. An article on this study will appear in
the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy.
We now have a grant to pursue further the question of how governments in
various jurisdictions have gone about the process of formulating goals and
targets for health, and how they have used them in guiding policy, resource
allocation, practices and challenges to other sectors.
Good luck and thanks, Ron, for your grander vision of what could be, once
again. --Larry
>Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 12:22:28 -0500
>From: Ronald Labonte <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: healthy public policy and the world trade organization
>
>Hello. My name is Ronald Labonte. I have worked in public health/health
>promotion for over 25 years, as an activist, practitioner, trainer,
>consultant, researcher and academic. I have always been drawn to my work
>because of its communitarian and moral dimensions. It is my experience in
>work across the English speaking world, and some forays into continental
>Europe and Latin America, that many people in public health/health promotion
>share similar value commitments. These values are now challenged, if not
>eclipsed, in many parts of the world by the ascendency of a market-driven
>neoliberal discourse. This discourse accompanies trends in global trade and
>wealth accumulation that pose significant threats to the health, well-being
>and social fabric of peoples and planet. How do we intervene to re-direct
>our body politic into one that is more consistent with the values and
>practices of public health and civic decency?
>
>I have prepared a 10 page proposal in response to that question. It argues
>for a global health NGO presence at the 2 year old World Trade Organization,
>a successor of GATT which currently enforces liberalized trade agreements...
---------------------------------------
Lawrence W. Green
Professor, Health Care & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine
Director, Institute of Health Promotion Research, Faculty of Graduate Studies
University of British Columbia
2206 East Mall, Room 324
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Tel: (604) 822-5776
Fax: (604) 822-9210
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
IHPR Web Site: http://www.ihpr.ubc.ca
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