The disease of corruption: views on how to fight corruption to advance 21st century global health goals

Tim K Mackey; Jillian Clare Kohler; William D Savedoff; Frank Vogl; Maureen Lewis; James Sale; Joshua Michaud; Taryn Vian

doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0696-1

The disease of corruption: views on how to fight corruption to advance 21^st century global health goals

BMC Med. 2016 Sep 29;14(1):149. doi: 10.1186/s12916-016-0696-1.

Authors

Tim K Mackey^{1

2

3

4}, Jillian Clare Kohler^{5

6}, William D Savedoff⁷, Frank Vogl^{8

9}, Maureen Lewis^{10

11}, James Sale¹², Joshua Michaud^{13

14}, Taryn Vian¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA. tmackey@ucsd.edu.
² Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA. tmackey@ucsd.edu.
³ Global Health Policy Institute, 6256 Greenwich Drive, Mail Code: 0172X, San Diego, CA, 92122, USA. tmackey@ucsd.edu.
⁴ WHO Collaborating Centre for Governance, Transparency and Accountability in the Pharmaceutical Sector, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. tmackey@ucsd.edu.
⁵ WHO Collaborating Centre for Governance, Transparency and Accountability in the Pharmaceutical Sector, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Munk School of Global Affairs, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ Transparency International, Secretariat, Berlin, Germany.
⁹ The Partnership for Transparency Fund, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁰ Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
¹¹ Aceso Global, Washington, DC, USA.
¹² Transparency International UK, London, UK.
¹³ Kaiser Family Foundation, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁴ Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁵ Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Corruption has been described as a disease. When corruption infiltrates global health, it can be particularly devastating, threatening hard gained improvements in human and economic development, international security, and population health. Yet, the multifaceted and complex nature of global health corruption makes it extremely difficult to tackle, despite its enormous costs, which have been estimated in the billions of dollars. In this forum article, we asked anti-corruption experts to identify key priority areas that urgently need global attention in order to advance the fight against global health corruption. The views shared by this multidisciplinary group of contributors reveal several fundamental challenges and allow us to explore potential solutions to address the unique risks posed by health-related corruption. Collectively, these perspectives also provide a roadmap that can be used in support of global health anti-corruption efforts in the post-2015 development agenda.

Keywords: Anti-corruption; Corruption; Global health; Global health governance; Good governance; International development; Sustainable Development Goals.

Publication types

Editorial