Opening the Policy Window to Mobilize Action Against Corruption in the Health Sector Comment on "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems".

Tim K Mackey

doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2019.65

Abstract

Corruption in the health sector has been a "dirty secret" in the health policy and international development community, but recent global activities point to a day when it will no longer be neglected as a key determinant of health. To further explore next steps forward, this commentary applies the Kingdon’s multiple-streams framework (MSF) to assess what opportunities are available to mobilize the global agenda to combat health corruption. Based on this analysis, it appears that Kingdon’s problem, policy, and political streams are coalescing to create a policy window opportunity that can be leveraged based on recent developments in the global health and international development community around corruption. This includes the recent formation of the Global Network on Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability (GNACTA) led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme in 2019. It also includes bridging shared goals of addressing corruption in order to make progress towards health-specific goals in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for achieving universal health coverage.

Highlights

Corruption in the health system has been a “dirty secret” in health policy and international development circles as mentioned in the article “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems” by Hutchinson and colleagues.[1]
Reflecting some of these challenges, Hutchinson et al describe their five reasons explaining why corruption has yet to break through in the international health policy discourse. Many of these challenges are familiar to anti-corruption experts including: lack of a concrete definition for corruption, the need to address the real-world practicalities of why corruption exists in fragile health systems, difficulties in conducting empirical research on health corruption practices, and the challenging ethical barriers of researching, implementing, and evaluating anti-corruption activities, when the subjects of said corrupt activities are complicit, benefit, or are directly involved in the corruption itself.[1,8,9]
This includes the recent formation of the Global Network on Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability (GNACTA) led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme in 2019

Summary

Introduction

Corruption in the health system has been a “dirty secret” in health policy and international development circles as mentioned in the article “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems” by Hutchinson and colleagues.[1]. As key organizations representing constituencies in the international public health, multilateral global health funding, and international development spheres, GNACTA is positioned to act as a key health anti-corruption fora and into the future provided it receives appropriate support and a strong mandate to take action.

Results

Conclusion