During the Trump presidency, the World Health Organization was a frequent target for criticism, especially during the early months of the Covid pandemic. A recent article from UC Davis reveals that the organization has also been a constant target for lobbying from multinationals hoping to negatively influence US policy towards the WHO.
The article highlights that while lobbying has been a factor for decades, recent times have seen producers of products such as processed foods, milk formulas, and electronic gaming software take a more concerted and even coordinated approach to influence global health policy.
“Lobbying can be a healthy part of the democratic process,” the authors explain. “But our findings suggest that this targeting of the WHO acts to plant doubt about the scientific and professional integrity, as well as operational capacities, of the global health governance system — just when we need it most.”
Influencing policy
The study is one of the first to explore the role lobbying plays in influencing government policy towards the WHO and reveals concerted cross-industry coordination aimed at influencing and shaping WHO policies and public health guidelines, and even the very funding of the WHO itself.
“It’s not about any one administration or party,” the authors explain. “This intensifying corporate lobbying over U.S. positions on global health is problematic because it elevates commercial interests in processes shaping global health objectives. Furthermore, these corporate entities have vast, concentrated pools of private wealth to draw on that public-interest groups lobbying for health policy cannot match.”
The article reveals particular efforts underway to influence WHO recommendations to stem the tide of various non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, all of which have increased morbidity during the Covid pandemic.
For instance, lobbyists would target policies aimed to constrain the inappropriate marketing of infant formulas, limit sugar and alcohol consumption, and generally broaden access to various essential medicines.
An ongoing battle
The WHO has an ally in President Biden, who notable struck a deal to restore US funding to both the WHO and the UN while as a Senator in the Clinton administration, and Biden immediately reversed the Trump plans to withdraw from the WHO.
Despite this broad support, however, the administration has pledged to reform the WHO, and lobbyists have jumped on this to try and impart influence over global health policy, despite the clear commercial conflicts of interest. While the researchers explain that similar analyses of European countries isn’t possible due to weaker disclosure laws, they nonetheless believe that the situation in America alone is serious enough to warrant attention.
“What is happening here should be a cautionary tale on the importance of strict and detailed lobbying disclosure requirements, transparency in deliberations over official U.S. positions taken in multilateral institutions, and the importance of screening for conflicts of interest at the national level before formulating global health policy positions,” the authors explain.
As such, if these protocols are diluted, or removed altogether, the WHO runs the risk of promoting industry ambitions rather than a global vision of health.
