Health Sector
Understand how corruption affects health outcomes in developing countries. Find essential resources for anyone working on anti-corruption within the sector.
Corruption in the health sector is a concern in all countries, but it is especially critical in developing and transitional economies where public resources are already scarce. Corruption reduces resources available for health, lowers the quality, equity and effectiveness of health care services, decreases the volume and increases the cost of services provided. It discourages people to use and pay for services and ultimately has a corrosive impact on the population's level of health.
Explore this U4 Theme Page to learn about the challenges and strategies that can be employed to address the problem:
- Understand why corruption is so prevalent in the health sector
- Study how reformers can integrate anti-corruption efforts into health policy
- Study examples of interventions introduced to help reduce corruption
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New U4 Publication
Good governance for medicines initiatives: Exploring lessons learned
U4 Issue 2013:3 by J.C. Kohler and N. Ovtcharenko. 26p
Select global initiatives in the area of good governance and medicines have been particularly useful in generating a political and policy dialogue around the issue of pharmaceutical system good governance. The initiatives examined in this paper have been taken by the World Bank, the WHO and the Global Fund, as well as the Medicines Transparency Alliance. The main findings include that these initiatives identify weaknesses in the pharmaceutical system and can provide important baseline data. Recommendations include the need for political analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and the streamlining and uniformity of assessment tools across institutions.
Publications
Transparency and Accountability in an Electronic Era: The Case of Pharmaceutical Procurements
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Author:
Killingsworth, J R
Release date:
January 2002
Official, unofficial and informal fees for health care, first check the wallet: what price official and under the counter payments in health systems?
This paper offers a welcome discussion of the current consensus among reformers that unofficial fees are bad because they cause irrationality in the health system. While noting that fees outside the formal system do increase the probability of a number of negative outcomes (for example increased inequality), the author argues that the reform consensus is oversimplified. Citing case studies of Bangladesh, the former Soviet Union and China, he makes the crucial point that fees cause economic distortions whether they are official or unofficial, and that much more detailed analysis is required in order to assess the actual impact (both positive and negative) of unofficial fees in specific cases.
Author:
World Health Organisation
Release date:
January 1999
Operational Principles for Good Pharmaceutical Procurement
This document provides 12 principles for good pharmaceutical procurement, divided into four groups: efficient and transparent management; drug selection and quantification; financing and competition; and supplier selection and quality assurance. Each principle is justified by explaining how it contributes to achieving a more cost-effective, high quality and timely supply of drugs at the lowest possible total procurement cost. The document ends with practical suggestions for implementation. See http://www.u4.no/themes/health/literature_budgets.cfm for several practical case studies of procurement and budget reform in the health sectors of developing countries.
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