An exploration of anti-corruption and health in international organizations.

Corruption is a global wicked problem that threatens the achievement of health, social and economic development goals, including Sustainable Development Goal # 3: Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all. The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting strain on health systems has heightened risks of corruption both generally and specifically within health systems. Over the past years, international organizations, including those instrumental to the global COVID-19 response, have increased efforts to address corruption within their operations and related programs. However, as attention to anti-corruption efforts is relatively recent within international organizations, there is a lack of literature examining how these organizations address corruption and the impact of their anti-corruption efforts. This study addresses this gap by examining how accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption are taken up by international organizations within their own operations and the reported outcomes of such efforts. The following international organizations were selected as the focus of this document analysis: the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Bank Group. Documents were identified through a targeted search of each organization's website. Documents were then analyzed combining elements of content analysis and thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that accountability and transparency mechanisms have been employed by each of the four international organizations to address corruption. Further, these organizations commonly employed oversight mechanisms, including risk assessments, investigations, and audits to monitor their internal and external operations for fraud and corruption. All organizations used sanction strategies meant to reprimand identified transgressors and deter future corruption. Findings also demonstrate a marked increase in anti-corruption efforts by these international organizations in recent years. Though this is promising, there remains a distinct absence of evidence demonstrating the impact of such efforts on the prevalence and severity of corruption in international organizations.

Global health and human rights in the time of COVID-19: Response, restrictions, and legitimacy

Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted a range of human rights, with the pandemic being used to justify police violence, authoritarian power grabs, and corruption. Health systems in high- and low-income countries have struggled to provide adequate COVID-19 testing, tracing, and treatment, with non-COVID-19 healthcare-restricted, vulnerable populations at high risk of infection and negative health and social impacts, and lockdowns exacerbating poverty, domestic violence, and mental health problems. If underresourced health systems are overwhelmed by COVID-19, and individuals are forced to bear testing and treatment costs, there is a stronger likelihood of health system failures, for higher mortality from a range of causes, and for people to be pushed further into poverty and insecurity. COVID-19 thus underscores the urgent need for clearer rules about legitimate restrictions of the right to health in responding to the pandemic, and for safeguarding global health policy initiatives in its aftermath. This article focuses on key right-to-health challenges, including realization of universal health coverage, and potential challenges in access to future COVID-19 therapies and vaccines. We conclude with reflections on what the pandemic may mean for the evolution of human rights, and the right to health in particular.

Exploring anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability in the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Group, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Corruption is recognized by the global community as a threat to development generally and to achieving health goals, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal # 3: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all. As such, international organizations such as the World Health Organizations and the United Nations Development Program are creating an evidence base on how best to address corruption in health systems. At present, the risk of corruption is even more apparent, given the need for quick and nimble responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may include a relaxation of standards and the rapid mobilization of large funds. As international organizations and governments attempt to respond to the ever-changing demands of this pandemic, there is a need to acknowledge and address the increased opportunity for corruption.In order to explore how such risks of corruption are addressed in international organizations, this paper focuses on the question: How are international organizations implementing measures to promote accountability and transparency, and anti-corruption, in their own operations? The following international organizations were selected as the focus of this paper given their current involvement in anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability in the health sector: the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank Group, and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Our findings demonstrate that there has been a clear increase in the volume and scope of anti-corruption, accountability, and transparency measures implemented by these international organizations in recent years. However, the efficacy of these measures remains unclear. Further research is needed to determine how these measures are achieving their transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption goals.

The Urgent Need for Transparent and Accountable Procurement of Medicine and Medical Supplies in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed unprecedented and complex public policy issues. One that has emerged as a challenge for many countries globally is how to ensure the efficient and effective procurement of quality medical supplies. Existing corruption pressures on procurement-everything from undue influence to the outright bribery of public officials-has been amplified by the pandemic, and thus demands commensurate policy responses. We argue that transparency and accountability in procurement are essential to preventing the corruption risks that threaten the health and well-being of populations.