ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the impact of consumerist neoliberal globalization on population health and global policy responses. Among the positive, though highly contentious, claims made for neoliberal globalization, there is an emphasis on health as a result of liberalized markets and economic growth. Massive challenges of climate change, pollution and food and water insecurity are all strictly linked to market liberalization and the efforts to accommodate business interests globally. Neoliberal globalization is also at the roots of “biomedicalization”, and the emphasis put on techno-scientific advances in search of solutions to health problems, neglecting their social roots and leading to the creation of patients as consumers. The human being has always been highly dependent on ecosystems and the benefits they provide such as products and services which are required for good health and productive livelihoods. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our century, with widely recognized interconnected effects on human health and overall changes in the ecosystem.
