Seybold Report ISSN: 1533-9211
Supriya Pal1, PhD, Sandhya Sreekumar2, PhD, Anju Dwivedi3, MBA, Sharyu Mhamane4, MPH, and Abhishikt Chauhan5, MA
Vol 17, No 10 ( 2022 ) | Licensing: CC 4.0 | Pg no:2451-2463 | Published on: 31-10-2022
Abstract
Achieving sustainable and optimum menstrual health is a global issue. There are innumerable drivers that dictate the course of menstrual health across the globe. Nevertheless, emphasizing the social and structural determinants of menstrual health is insufficient. With increasing intrusion and penetration of the private sector/corporate power influencing the lifestyle choices of individuals with aggressive marketing, instilling stigma under the name of promoting health and hygiene, exercising free will with no global protocols/standards for the manufacturing of safe menstrual products; there exists a dire need to address the commercial determinants of menstrual health. Commercial determinants of health are central to understanding how the corporate giants/business powers and organizations exercise and exert control that alters the consumer’s environment, making it conducive enough to drive their profit motives, but need not necessarily direct the population towards healthy life choices. According to Fuchs’s definition, these powers exist in three forms; instrumental, structural, and discursive power. The paper is an attempt to address commercial determinants impacting menstrual health by applying Fuchs’ concept for commercial determinants of health.
Keywords:
menstrual health, instrumental power, consumer behaviour