Corruption in the Health Sector
Nordberg, Carin, updated by Taryn Vian (U4 Issue 2008:10)

This U4 Issue presents some essential resources for anyone promoting anti-corruption in the health sector, or otherwise wanting to learn about the challenges of corruption in the health sector.

La corruption dans le secteur de la santé
Nordberg, Carin, mis á jour par Taryn Vian (U4 Issue 2009:14)

La présente étude de U4 constitue une source d'information essentielle pour quiconque participe à la lutte contre la corruption dans le secteur de la santé ou souhaite se documenter sur les défis que pose le phénomène de la corruption dans ce même secteur.

Approaches to teaching and learning about corruption in the health sector
Vian, Taryn (U4 Brief 2009:30)

This U4 Brief summarises experiences and approaches to educating new and experienced public health professionals and donor agency practitioners about how to analyse problems of corruption in the health sector and design strategies to address them.

Benefits and drawbacks of per diems: Do allowances distort good governance in the health sector?
Vian, Taryn (U4 Brief 2009:29)

This U4 Brief explores the benefits and drawbacks of per diems, especially their potential negative impact on development goals.

Pay for Honesty? Lessons on Wages and Corruption from Public Hospitals
Savedoff, William D., (U4 Brief 2008:13)

This U4 Brief discusses the effect of low pay in the health sector corruption, and particular with regards to theft, graft, absenteeism, and soliciting bribes.

Embezzlement of Donor Funding in Health Projects
Semrau, Katherine, Nancy Scott, Taryn Vian (U4 Brief 2008:11)

This U4 Brief analyses how pressure to spend funds quickly has led to a heightened degree of embezzlement in the donor-funded projects, and what can be done to minimise the risk.

Transparency and Accountability in an Electronic Era: The Case of Pharmaceutical Procurements
Waning, Brenda, Taryn Vian (U4 Brief 2008:10)

This U4 Brief describes how international partners and national procurement agencies have used information technology to improve transparency and increase accountability in procurement of HIV/AIDS medicines.

Transparency in Health Programmes
Vian, Taryn (U4 Brief 2008:9)

This U4 Brief discusses the role of transparency in preventing corruption in the health sector, by helping to expose abusive practices such as fraud, patronage, corruption and other abuses of power.

Fraud in Hospitals
Musau, Steve, Taryn Vian (U4 Brief 2008:8)

This U4 Brief discusses common types of fraud which occur in hospitals in low-income countries, and suggests ways to prevent and control it.

The Impact of Information and Accountability on Hospital Procurement Corruption in Argentina and Bolivia
Savedoff, William D. (U4 Brief 2008:7)

This U4 Brief discusses the experiences of Argentina and Bolivia in their attempts to curb corruption in procurement of hospital supplies.

Informal pay and the quality of health care: lessons from Tanzania
Mæstad, Ottar, Aziza Mwisongo (U4 Brief 2007:9)

This U4 Brief draws on a qualitative study among health workers in Tanzania to describe the nature of informal payments that are taking place in the health sector, and their potential impacts on access to and the quality of health care.

Using financial performance indicators to promote transparency and accountability in health systems
Vian, Taryn, David Collins (U4 Brief 2006:1)

This U4 Brief presents experiences of district health management teams in South Africa, where interventions to improve district health planning and reporting, including the integration of financial data and service utilization statistics, proved helpful in increasing transparency and focusing attention on areas most vulnerable to abuse.

Anti-Corruption in the Health Sector: Preventing Drug Diversion through Supply Chain Management
Vian, Taryn (U4 Brief 2006:4)

This U4 Brief describes how the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (the U.S. PEPFAR initiative) and the related Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) Project are working to increase transparency and provide a secure, high-quality supply of HIV/AIDS drugs to developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Anti-Corruption in the Health Sector: Reducing Vulnerabilities to Corruption in User Fee Systems
Vian, Taryn (U4 Brief 2006:3)

This U4 Brief illustrates how one hospital was able to introduce policy and system changes to reduce corruption and increase responsible stewardship of user fee revenues for the public good.

Corruption in the Health Sector
Norberg, Carin, updated by Taryn Vian (U4 Issue 2006:1)

This U4 Issue presents some essential resources for anyone promoting anti-corruption in the health sector, or otherwise wanting to learn about the challenges of corruption in the health sector.

U4 welcomes any feedback on the U4 Health pages

Approaches to corruption in drug management

Gender and corruption in humanitarian assistance

Low salaries, the culture of per diems and corruption

Corruption challenges at sub-national level in Indonesia

Corruption in the health and education sectors in Mali

Tackling forms of corruption that affect the poor most

Review of corruption in the health sector: theory, methods and interventions .pdf
(Taryn Vian)
This article presents a comprehensive framework and a set of methodologies for describing and measuring how opportunities, pressures and rationalizations influence corruption in the health sector. The article discusses implications for intervention, and presents examples of how theory has been applied in research and practice. Challenges of tailoring anti-corruption strategies to particular contexts, and future directions for research, are addressed.
Published in Health Policy and Planning (Volume 23, Number 2, March 2008). [The Open Access to this article is sponsored by U4]

A tale of two health systems. pdf
(William D. Savedoff)

A closer look at two countries demonstrates how corruption manifests itself differently across health systems. Colombia and Venezuela are neighbouring Latin American countries with comparable incomes that share many similarities in history, culture and language. Until 1990, the two countries also had similarly fragmented health systems, comprised of a large social security institutions that served the formal sector; national or state-level governments that directly provided health care services to the rest of the population; and an active private sector that relied predominantly on direct payment for services by patients and their families. In the early 1990s, Colombia engaged a series of dramatic health reforms that decentralised public services to the municipal level and, in parallel, created a mandatory universal insurance system with the participation of non-governmental insurers (for-profit and non-profit).

Detailed Implementation Review India Health Sector 2006-2007 Volume II .pdf
This Report summarizes the findings of a Detailed Implementation Review (DIR) of five Bank-financed projects in India: the Food and Drugs Capacity Building Project, the Orissa Health Systems Development Project, the Second National AIDS Control Project, the Malaria Control Project, and the Tuberculosis Control Project.

Governance and Corruption in Public Health Care Systems
Maureen Lewis, Centre for Global Development, 2006

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.