Abstract
ObjectivesCorruption undermines the quality of healthcare and leads to inequitable access to essential health products. WHO, Global Fund, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank are engaged in anti-corruption in health sectors globally. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, weakened health systems and overlooked regulatory processes have increased corruption risks. The objective of this study is thus to explore the strengths and weaknesses of these organisations’ anti-corruption mechanisms and their trajectories since the pandemic began.Design, setting and participants25 semistructured key informant interviews with a total of 27 participants were conducted via Zoom between April and July 2021 with informants from WHO, World Bank, Global Fund and UNDP, other non-governmental organisations involved in anti-corruption and academic institutions. Key informant selection was guided by purposive and snowball sampling. Detailed interview notes were qualitatively coded by three researchers. Data analysis followed an inductive-deductive hybrid thematic analysis framework.ResultsThe findings demonstrate that WHO, World Bank, Global Fund and UNDP have shifted from criminalisation/punitive approaches to anti-corruption to preventative ones and that anti-corruption initiatives are strong when they are well funded, explicitly address corruption and are complemented by strong monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Weaknesses in the organisations’ approaches to anti-corruption include one-size-fits-all approaches, lack of political will to address corruption and zero-tolerance policies for corruption. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the necessity of improving anti-corruption by promoting strong accountability and transparency in health systems.ConclusionsResults from this study highlight the strengths, weaknesses and recent trajectories of anti-corruption in the Global Fund, World Bank, UNDP and WHO. This study underscores the importance of implementing strong and robust anti-corruption mechanisms specifically geared towards corruption prevention that remain resilient even in times of emergency.
Funder
Connaught Fund
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Reference29 articles.
1. The global Wicked problem of corruption and its risks for access to HIV/AIDS medicines;Kohler;Clin Pharmacol Ther,2018
2. Correction to: the influence of corruption and governance in the delivery of frontline health care services in the public sector: a scoping review of current and future prospects in low and middle-income countries of South and south-east Asia;Naher;BMC Public Health,2020
3. Changing the Conversation, Why We Need to Reframe Corruption as a Public Health Issue Comment on "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems";Clarke;Int J Health Policy Manag,2020
4. National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine . The critical health impacts of corruption. in: crossing the global quality chasm: improving health care worldwide. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2018.
5. The risk of corruption in public pharmaceutical procurement: how anti-corruption, transparency and accountability measures may reduce this risk;Kohler;Glob Health Action,2020
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献