The double burden of neoliberalism? Noncommunicable disease policies and the global political economy of risk

Abstract

Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Health place. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in Health place, 34, July 2015, 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.06.005Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe growing prevalence of NCDs in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) is now recognized as one of the major global health policy issues of the early 21 st century. Current official approaches reflect ambivalence about how health policy should approach the social determinants of health identified by the WHO Commission on the topic that released its report in 2008, and in particular the role of macro-scale economic and social processes. Authoritative framing of options for NCD prevention in advance of the September, 2011 UN high-level meeting on NCDs arguably relied on a selective reading of the scientific (including social scientific) evidence, and foregrounded a limited number of risk factors defined in terms of individual behaviour: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, alcohol (ab)use and physical inactivity. The effect was to reproduce at a transnational level the individualization of responsibility for health that characterizes most health promotion initiatives in high-income countries, ignoring both the limited control that many people have over their exposure to these risk factors and the contribution of macro-scale processes like trade liberalization and the marketing activities of transnational corporations to the global burden of NCDs. An alternative perspective focuses on "the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources" described by the WHO Commission, and the ways in which policies that address those inequities can avoid unintentional incorporation of neoliberal constructions of risk and responsibility.2

Qualitative research in teen experiences living with food‐induced anaphylaxis: A meta‐aggregation

“…As media portrayals of allergy frame public conceptions of risk (Harrington, Elliott, & Clarke, ; Rachul & Caulfield, ) and a multitude of institutions and corporations exert their influence (Waggoner, ), FIA becomes a very public social issue. Teens with FIA are often assigned a limited amount of autonomy and responsibility for their individual health, socially policed in how they manage it and detrimentally constructed as risky beings (Glasgow & Schrecker, ; Spencer, ). However, teens with FIA live in a context where they are subject to rules of others and dependent on adult and peer supports, as the reviewed studies demonstrate.…”

Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch

“…Neoliberalism provides an abundance of consumer choices-including the ultraprocessed foods, beverages, tobacco, etc., that act as drivers of NCDs-and at the same time provides the "freedom" of allowing the individual to be the primary holder of preventive strategies (i.e., solely responsible for lifestyle) for one's own health. Moreover, the ideology provides the commercially available remedies which one (and at the larger scale, society) might purchase in the hopes of offsetting the commercial drivers of NCDs [42][43][44].…”

Astrofood, Priorities and Pandemics: Reflections of an Ultra-Processed Breakfast Program and Contemporary Dysbiotic Drift

“…In other words, the westernized nutritional environment viewed in its totality is a product of neoliberal policies which allow the drivers of NCDs (including ultra-processed foods) to sit on-shelf with commercially available remedies (e.g., pharmaceuticals, supplements). Under neoliberalism, personal responsibility for a healthy lifestyle is heralded to be the sole road to fulfilling potential in life [148][149][150].…”