The School of Medical Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) organized a workshop on Commercial Determinants of Health on November 21, 2025 at the Sir C V Raman Auditorium for half a day.
Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) looks at how commercial interests and entities shape public health. Lots of work has been carried out on in the area of political economy of tobacco and is now being looking at other various domains of public health. It is felt, that there is a need to deepen research, dialogue, and policy engagement on this emerging dimension of public health and engage and collaborate with leading institutions in health and public policy. The purpose was to introduce and build capacity of faculty and students around CDoH. This framework, it was hoped, offers valuable perspectives in addressing some of the most pressing health challenges of current times, particularly in areas such as maternal and child health, tribal/Indigenous health, occupational health, and more.
Institute of Public Health (IPH) Bengaluru is a non-profit academic institution established with a vision of creating an equitable, integrated, decentralised and participatory health system within a just and empowered society. Recently it has established the Centre for Commercial Determinants of Health which conducts a series of workshops across institutions that have public health programs.
Expertly led by Dr. Sreenidhi Sreekumar, Fellow at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru (IPH) and Shri. Achyutha N G, Senior Research Associate and Research Manager at IPH, Bengaluru and structured as a workshop, participants included public health students, scholars and faculty numbering 65 got introduced to commercial determinants of health and its role and impact on contextual public health issues. They understood how commercial interests shape policies and influence health outcomes. The deliberations included an interesting and structured student activity wherein participants were divided into groups and asked to discuss and present their opinions and thoughts on the topic of CDoH in various current and contextual situations.
Prof. B.R. Shamanna, Senior school faculty in Public Health and Dean In-charge welcomed the resource persons and also thanked them for doing this gratis for the school. The participants actively participated and enthusiastically presented and took valuable insights from the event.