Commercial Determinants of Health:
Moving from Harmful to Healthy

November 18th and 19th, 2024

Sutton Place Hotel, 845 Burrard Street, Vancouver

About the Conference

The Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) is thrilled to announce the theme of our 2024 conference, “Commercial Determinants of Health: Moving from Harmful to Healthy.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), we are the first public health association in the world to host a conference on the commercial determinants of health! We are working with WHO and the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, and other notable partners to bring you an excellent, innovative and educational conference.

Conference Themes

Taking action on industries that affect health: marketing, risks, and essential goods
Building public sector strength: considering regulatory and functional opportunities
Improving business practices: creating policies for healthier markets
Rethinking economic development: sustainable approaches and cultural perspectives

Conference Learning Objectives

Develop a Comprehensive Understanding of Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH)
- Define and explain the concept of CDoH, and identify key industries and commercial practices (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, fossil fuels) that impact public health.
Analyze Public Health’s Role in addressing CDoH
- Critically examine how strategies by commercial actors, including marketing, lobbying, and product development, shape health behaviors and outcomes, highlighting both positive and negative effects.
- Examine core competencies for Public Health as they relate to CDoH
Learn from Successful Interventions Against Harmful Commercial Practices
- Explore case studies and stories of successful interventions that have effectively mitigated commercial risks to public health.
Develop Strategies for Strength-Based Harm Prevention
- Address the identification and prevention of health harms caused by commercial activities, emphasizing the use of strengths-based language and approaches in public health interventions.
Provide exemplars of commercial activities generating wellbeing economies

Registration

Call for Abstracts

If you are part of a promising practice or have research related to any of our conference themes or public and population health in general please consider submitting your work for inclusion in our 2024 Conference. As one of the major public health conference’s in BC, this is the ideal event to showcase your work to and network with likeminded public, population, environmental health, and other allied professionals.

As an added bonus, individuals whose abstracts are accepted for inclusion in the conference will be able to access the exclusive abstract presenter’s discounted conference rate! To read more about the call for abstracts, submission guidelines and evaluation criteria, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding the submission process please feel free to reach out to us at conference@phabc.org.

Our Call for Abstracts is now closed. Thank you to all who submitted.

Keep an eye out for our preliminary program!

Volunteers

Calling volunteers for our 2024 conference! Volunteers work a total of 8 hours in exchange for free conference registration. There are limited spots available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you’re interested in volunteering, please reach out to us at conference@phabc.org.

PHABC Awards

Do you know someone or an organization in the public health community whose hard work and dedication deserves recognition? Nominate them for a PHABC award! We accept nominations year-round for outstanding individuals and organizations. This year’s deadline for the 2024 awards is October 25th, 2024. Any nominations submitted after the deadline will be considered for the 2025 PHABC Awards. Read about all our awards and submit your nomination today!