Ardigò Martino

How to stop public health conferences becoming trade fairs

Reflecting the new wave of global public health, which now seems to be finally reoriented towards embracing its social mission and responsibilities, the 12th World Congress on Public Health, recently held in Istanbul, dedicated many of its sessions to ethics and the right to health. Indeed, the Congress title, ‘Making a Difference in Global Public Health: Education, Research and Practice’, sounded like a call to action. But faultless theory and socially responsible statements, set out and declared in Istanbul, were accompanied by corporate sponsorship which we see as inappropriate, and sessions that were in conflict with the interests of public health. This commentary reflects the views of a number of participants at the Congress about the corporate influence on public health conferences and, more generally, inappropriate corporate influence on public health teaching, research and practice.