Chapter 10: Multinational Corporations and Basic Health Services:

The following chapter presents theoretical argument for how and why it may be profitable for multinational corporations to participate in provision of certain basic health services in developing countries where they operate. The chapter examines the pros and cons of such participation from both strategic and citizenship perspectives. Diseases are endemic in tropical countries: for example, HIV, malaria, dysentery, river blindness, and so forth. A couple of examples are Merck’s river blindness program and the recent announcement that Marathon Oil (headquartered in Houston) is addressing malaria in West Africa. I attempt to identify various examples reported in the literature and press. A consideration in this analysis is that relatively low expenditures can have marked benefits for the affected population while building moral capital for the company. A potential difficulty is whether corporate programs might run afoul of collusion with pharmaceutical companies seeking non-informed patient testing programs. The recent Hollywood film The Constant Gardener focuses on such an alleged activity. I examine what (if any) evidence exists on this matter. If there is such evidence, the chapter will discuss ways of avoiding such collusion.