July 2, 2015 – Corporate Involvement

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Anchor lead: Can for-profit corporations partner with public health interventions internationally? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Can UPS help the UN in international humanitarian relief efforts, as announced recently?  Can Coca-Cola distribute lifesaving rehydration drinks?  William Greenough, an oral rehydration expert at Johns Hopkins, examines the issues surrounding corporate involvement in public health.

Greenough: The people who are marketing for profit around the world, their agenda is to make money for the company.  I think the risk is we have no real power or grip on the people who are marketing or the people who are developing new product.  The risk is they might want to modify the formula, no question the distribution chains among S corporations are wonderful, and the question is will they adopt things that are really useful for health or will they continue to market things that may not be so useful for health.     :28

Greenough concludes that the potential for benefit is so great the risk in partnering with multinational corporations is worth it.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.