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Fighting Corruption to Improve Access to Medicines in Latin America

In an effort to tackle corruption in the health sector, international experts, NGOs, and the international pharmaceutical industry have agreed to work together against this obstacle that limits the access of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean to medicine.

"We can help prevent corruption through rules and regulations," said Charles Griffin, World Bank's Sector Manager of Health, Nutrition and Population for Latin America and the Caribbean at a recent workshop, A Multisectoral Approach to Improve Ethical Business Practices: A Contribution to Improving Access to Medicines in Latin America and the Caribbean. "But in our region we also need to make sure consumers have more power over the health system, that they get better information and that providers compete for clients rather than the other way around."

The workshop was sponsored by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, as part of their Shared Agenda for Health in the region, together with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Pharma) and Merck Co. Inc, one of the world's largest corporations in the industry.




Source: PAHO



Corruption in the pharmaceutical sector limits the access to medicine of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean



"The social cost of corruption is incredibly high," says Sir George Alleyne, PAHO's Director

"The social cost of corruption is incredibly high. There are many facets of the problem and the health sector is one of them," said Sir George Alleyne, PAHO's Director to more than 60 representatives of international organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, and NGOs from such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico.

In fact, corruption in the pharmaceutical sector is still common. It ranges from officials selling health cards or asking for the payment of "commissions" as a condition to purchase products from a supplier, to laboratories paying kickbacks in exchange for the registration of their products or a purchase at a more expensive price, explained Daniel López Acuña, PAHO's Director of Health and Services Development.

"When public funds are diverted, society pays twice—once, when the funds are stolen and again when someone needs medical attention and cannot get it," said William Savedoff, IDB's Senior Economist on Health.

In order to tackle this complex problem, the workshop participants discussed at length the causes and manifestations of corruption and the ongoing reforms and regulations in the region to prevent it.

"We have to review the regulations that confer the public servant with ample discretion, offering opportunity to negotiations contrary to the due compliance of the law," said José Luis Reyes, Justice and Safety Coordinator of the Transition Team of Mexico's President-Elect Vicente Fox.

Participants agreed to establish an inter-institutional working group with the industry and NGOs in order to promote transparency in the sector through an ongoing regulatory harmonization in the region headed by PAHO, and to assess the vulnerabilities in the system in terms of AIDS drugs, among others.

"Corruption can kill and this is our contribution to stopping it," said Jillian Clare Cohen, World Bank-Pharmaceuticals Liaison Officer and one of the organizers of the event. "At the end of the day, greater and more open access to medicine is very good business," added Grey Warner, Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vice President for Latin America.

Useful links: For more information about the World Bank’s work in the Latin America and Caribbean Region, please visit: http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/external/lac/lac.nsf.