The Commercial Determinants of Health in the Context of COVID 19

Abstract One of the major public health side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was its contribution to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their associated risk factors such as obesity. At the same time, public health researchers became increasingly cognizant of how the commercial determinants of health contributed to this challenge. In this article, we contribute to this literature by discussing how major beverage and fast-food companies took advantage of this situation through a variety of strategies that essentially increased their profits at a time of worsening COVID-19 and NCD conditions. Despite overwhelming data highlighting worsening NCD and obesity problems, governments did not recognize this situation and introduce policies limiting industries from taking advantage of the pandemic situation. We conclude by providing several concrete political and policy actions that political leaders can take to avoid this situation in the future.