Commercial systems shape human health in profound and complex ways — through the products and services they create, the environments they build, the narratives they promote, and the policies they influence. These systems can both harm and advance health, and understanding this duality is central to PMAC 2027. Industries driving tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed food, fossil fuels, technology and arms have contributed significantly to the global burden of non-communicable diseases, environmental degradation, and health and societal inequity. At the same time, sectors spanning digital health, renewable and fossil free energy, logistics, finance, and food innovation hold genuine potential to advance health outcomes — when governed well and aligned with public interest and governance.

The pathways through which commercial actors influence health are deeply embedded in political economy: who holds power, how markets are structured, whose interests shape regulation, and how costs and benefits are distributed across populations and generations. These pathways are not neutral. They reflect choices — about incentives, governance, investment, and accountability — that can be redirected. The challenge is not to reject commerce, but to understand and rebalance the systems, power and incentives that currently allow commercial success to come at the expense of population well-being, particularly for children, women, and communities facing structural disadvantage.

PMAC 2027 will examine both the health-harming and health-promoting pathways of commercial determinants of health, drawing on interdisciplinary evidence and cross-sectoral dialogue. The conference will explore governance mechanisms, corporate documents, political economy reforms, and practical approaches to aligning market incentives with health and equity — generating shared understanding and actionable insights for policymakers, institutions, and commercial actors across global, regional, and national levels.

Objectives

1. To examine how commercial actors shape positive and negative health outcomes for people through markets, policies, and norms in the context of national politics and other in-country actors.
2. To understand the common playbooks commercial actors apply to shape negative health outcomes, and to identify effective interventions and policy responses in addressing them.
3. To identify experiences from commercial actors which shape positive health outcomes and how to promote them.