ABSTRACT
In 1997 the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that, “The interrelationship between global trade and industrialization, environmental sustainability and public health will become major public policy issues” (WHO, 1997, p. 4). Indeed, some argue that the locus of power in health policy making has shifted as the World Bank (WB) now outspends the WHO in healthrelated funding (Barris & McLeod, 2000). This chapter examines the significant influence of global economic and trade agreements on public health. The development and growth of neoliberal policies through organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), and North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) materially affect key structural predictors of health including income levels, education, access to basic resources, safety measures, and environmental quality (Millen & Holtz, 2000). At the same time, the neoliberal ideologies that undergird these policies actually impede health promoters’ ability to address these problems by discursively privileging the private market and undermining the language of public investment and protection we associate with public health promotion. Thus, although economic policies may seem far from the purview of health communication, these policies represent vital communication issues for the field to address.
