Corruption in the health sector
Good practice - Examples
CONTENT OF THIS SECTION:
Good practice - examples
- Zambia: Sida support to the health sector
- Mozambique: Common fund for support to health
- Bangladesh: Health sector programme
- Bangladesh: Social sector performance surveys
- Malawi: Health sector SWAp
Tools
Good practice - examples
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"The issues: salaries, budget process, and procurement are
national issues, not a particular health issue. We cannot deal with
the salary issues isolated " Lise Stensrud, Norwegian Health Adviser
in Mozambique, |
Corruption risks in the health sector have only marginally been addressed
in the past. As donors are increasingly moving towards budget support
in the health sector, the potential risks of corruption and budget leakages
have moved higher on the donor agenda.
Four donor supported health sector programmes have been selected as examples
of good practice because these display a consideration to the risk
of corruption in the preparatory phase leading up to the decision
to support the programme. The emphasis is on prevention rather than on
sanctions against a detected corrupt act.
The general lessons to draw from these examples are:
- Due attention must be given to the general corruption environment
- the National Integrity System - of each country
- Corruption risks associated with the health system itself have
to be identified and acted upon, and
- The general financial management system including the audit
and procurement functions must be analysed and, if necessary,
reinforced
The 'Bangladesh Social Sector Performance Survey', has been selected as an example because it provides a model for an investigative methodology adapted to the social sectors, including health. Emphasis is on evaluating the impact of reforms.
Tools to address corruption in the health sector:
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National
Health Accounts (NHA) |
| Public
Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) track the flow of resources on a sample survey basis, in order to determine how much of the originally allocated resources reach each level See also Measuring corruption in the health sector: what we can learn from public expenditure tracking and service delivery surveys in developing countries, Magnus Lindelow, Inna Kushnarova and Kai Kaiser (page 29 in the Global Corruption Report 2006) |
| Service Delivery Surveys (SDS) collect data on inputs, outputs, quality, pricing, oversight, and so forth. Can detect absence rates among e.g. health care workers. Read more on SDS at Governance Resource Centre | World Bank |
| Report Cards provide an instrument for civil society to assess and highlight dimensions (including corruption) of public service delivery in a community. Read about the use of Report cards in India in part 7 of Transparency International's Corruption Fighters' Tool Kit 2001 |
| TI
National Integrity System Surveys country studies assess the National Integrity System and its components, the NIS pillars, which is the sum total of the laws, institutions and practices in a country that maintain accountability and integrity of public, private and civil society organisations |
Query the U4 helpdesk about corruption
in the health sector |
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U4 welcomes any | CONTACT |
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Harald Mathisen
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Approaches to corruption in drug management| SPOTLIGHT |
Review of corruption in the health sector:
theory, methods and interventions .pdf |
| RECOMMENDED READING |
|
Governance
and Corruption in Public Health Care Systems This excellent working paper looks at factual evidence to describe the main challenges facing health care delivery in developing countries, including absenteeism, corruption, informal payments, and mismanagement. The author concludes that good governance is important in ensuring effective health care delivery, and that returns to investments in health are low where governance issues are not addressed. The paper provides policy options for promoting better governance. |