Corruption Impede Access to Public Health Services in Benin

Abstract

Health care is one of the indispensable factors contributing to the improvement of productivity and the welfare of human capital. Indeed, most developed countries focus on improving the health status of populations. Despite significant improvements in the health status of human capital, there are disparities in equal access to health care. This finding is fundamentally linked to the structuring, organization and functioning of public hospitals in developing countries. The purpose of this article is to analyze the effect of corruption behavior on access to health care in public hospitals in Benin. The methodological approach adopted in this work explains the probability, for a user in contact with the health services of public hospitals, of developing corrupt behaviors [1, 2]. The estimation of selection model, based on survey data from users of public hospitals in Benin, shows that corruption behavior facilitates access to health care for applicant. But taking collectively, they slow down the normal functioning of health care services, create a congestion effect and increase the vulnerability of users of public health hospitals. In addition, the estimation results reveal a negative and significant effect between drug diversion and corrupt behavior on the one hand and the fact of not having social security coverage decreases the probability of developing corruption behaviors other. The study recommends, on the one hand, the establishment of surveillance mechanisms for public hospital actors and, on the other hand, an increase in penalties for corrupt behavior.