Policy coherence and conflict of interest: The OECD guidelines on health and poverty

Abstract

The OECD's Guidelines on Poverty and Health are compromised by neoliberal assumptions and corrupted by several major conflicts of interest. These conflicts of interest are embodied in the DAC guidelines, whereby specific OECD commercial interests influence the public policies of developing countries. Commercial agendas are being incorporated into developing country health policy through development assistance doctrine. Yet better critical health outcomes generally occur in the well-coordinated, public health systems, rather than those with high levels of private supplementation. This paper examines the OECD Guidelines’ construction of public health policy in poor countries, drawing attention to the ideological agenda and linked conflicts of interest.

Keywords:

• Poverty and health
• OECD
• conflict of interest