Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Science, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Front Public Health. 2022 Jul 29;10:952979. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.952979. eCollection 2022.
Corruption in the health sector costs over 500 billion USD annually, weakening health system preparedness and response to health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of resources to deal with a shock limits the capacity to protect the population, exposing them to a greater risk of infection and mortality. There is an urgent need to improve health policy to reduce corruption in the health sector during times of crisis. This article aims to propose a prepare and response strategy to address corruption during times of health crises. We first explore the inherent characteristics of health systems that make them vulnerable to corruption and present the different faces corrupt practices take. We then explain why anticipatory governance is fundamental in addressing corruption in health systems and draw upon examples of corruption during COVID-19. Finally, we conclude by proposing that anticipatory governance could decrease the impact of corruption during health crises by increasing the availability of resources required to improve the population's health.
卫生部门的腐败每年造成的损失超过 5000 亿美元，削弱了卫生系统应对 COVID-19 等卫生危机的准备和应对能力。应对冲击的资源匮乏限制了保护民众的能力，使他们面临更大的感染和死亡风险。迫切需要改善卫生政策，以减少危机时期卫生部门的腐败。本文旨在提出一项应对卫生危机时期腐败的准备和应对策略。我们首先探讨了卫生系统的固有特征，这些特征使它们容易受到腐败的影响，并介绍了腐败行为的不同表现形式。然后，我们解释了为什么预期治理在解决卫生系统中的腐败问题方面至关重要，并以 COVID-19 期间的腐败为例进行了说明。最后，我们得出结论，预期治理可以通过增加改善人口健康所需的资源供应来减少卫生危机期间腐败的影响。
