Mapping the commercial determinants of health in countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region: conceptualizations, impacts and actions

The health and well-being outcomes of an individual are determined by everyday living conditions, which are driven by the social, political and environmental surroundings in which individual lives or works. The famous Dahlgren and Whitehead “rainbow model” developed in 1991, maps the interaction between individuals and lifestyle factors, community influences, living and working conditions and social conditions that surround them. However, all these conditions are encapsulated within wider influences, namely: economics, social policies, politics and the commercial determinants of health.

The activities and actions of business and commercial actors affect our social, physical and cultural environment. While commercial actors can have positive effects on health and society, there is now substantial evidence that commercial actors have increasingly negative effects on human and plenary health, and social and health inequities.