Trade and Health

Seeking improved health and increased income have long been common goals. Those who make the case that free trade will help everyone argue that the growth from increased trade will be shared and will improve people’s lives. But they have not answered the fundamental question of how to formulate trade policy to simultaneously achieve growth and benefit health. Trade and Health answers this question by exploring the entire array of avenues through which trade affects health, and examining a number of case studies on how best to achieve policies that integrate health objectives. The contributors represent the full range of stakeholders in the trade-health debate – medical professionals, civil society representatives, academics from a range of disciplines, and negotiators and policy-makers at the national and global levels. Contributors include Bijit Bora (WTO), Rupa Chanda (IIMB), Diana Chigas (Tufts), Carlos Correa (U of Buenos Aires), Eric Dagenais (Industry Canada), Alison Earle (Harvard), David P. Fidler (Indiana), Anabel González (WTO), Ronald Labonte (Ottawa), Cha-aim Pachnee (MOPH-Thailand), Pedro Roffe (UNCTAD-ICTSD), Nancy Ross (McGill), David Sanders (Western Cape), Ted Schrecker (Ottawa), Anna Shea (McGill), Elisabeth Tuerk (UNCTAD), David Vivas-Eugui (ICTSD), Johanna von Braun (ICTSD), and Suwit Wibulpolprasert (MOPH-Thailand).

Integrating health objectives and international trade policies.

Chantal Blouin is senior researcher, Trade and Development, The North-South Institute, Ottawa.
Jody Heymann is founding director of the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy, and founding director for the Project on Global Working Families, Harva