[e-drug] Corruption in medicines procurement

["E-Drug" <e-drug@healthnet.org>]

E-DRUG: Corruption in medicines procurement
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[After human rights, WHO's Essential Medicines Dept is now also joining the
good governance and anti-corruption transparency bandwagon. WHO press
release; WB]

Note for the Media WHO/32

30 October 2006 

WHO SETS UP NETWORK TO COMBAT CORRUPTION IN MEDICINES PROCUREMENT

Huge amounts of money - up to $50 billion - are spent every year on
pharmaceutical products, a market so large that it is extremely vulnerable
to corruption.  Recent estimates have shown that as much as 25% of medicines
which are procured can be lost to fraud, bribery and other corrupt
practices.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today launches a new initiative to
assist governments to combat corruption by promoting greater transparency in
medicines regulation and procurement. WHO is establishing a group of
anti-corruption and medicines experts from international institutions and
countries to promote greater transparency.  

Before reaching the patients who need them, medicines change hands several
times in the complex production and distribution chain, providing ample
opportunity for corruption. A recent report by Transparency International*
revealed that in one country, the value of two out of three medicines
supplied through procurement was lost to corruption and fraud in hospitals. 

"This is an aberration when you think that poor populations struggle with
the double bind of a high burden of disease and low access to medical
products," said Dr Howard Zucker, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health
Technology and Pharmaceuticals.  "Countries need to deal with this problem
and ensure that the precious resources devoted to health are being well
spent."

Apart from the loss of resources and the danger posed to patients' lives,
corrupt practices also allow the entry into the medicines chain of
counterfeit and substandard products, further endangering the health of
communities. 

Corruption occurs at different stages of the chain and may take on different
forms:

Bribery of government officials to register medicines without the required
information; 
Government officials may deliberately slow down registration procedures to
solicit payment from suppliers; 
Favouritism rather than professional merit in selecting members of a
medicines registration committee or in recruiting regulatory staff; 
Thefts and embezzlement in the distribution chain, including in health care
facilities. 

To combat the problem, WHO plans to strengthen regulatory authorities and
procurement practices by:

Stimulating legislative reform that will establish laws against corruption
and commensurate enforcement and punitive measures; 
Promoting standardized systems of checks and balances to limit or prevent
abuse by making publicly available the criteria, structures and procedures
applied to select regulatory and procurement staff and medical products; 
Encouraging ethical practices through behaviour change activities and staff
training. 
 
The first step of the process will be to create a group of independent
experts and advocates.  Second, the organization will compile a data base of
best practices and successful experiences already tried and tested in
countries to promote good governance in the public pharmaceutical sector.

"Corruption is a worldwide problem, rife in high- and low-income countries
alike, and no country should feel embarrassed to talk about it," said Dr
Hans Hogerzeil, WHO Director of Medicines Policy and Standards.  "But low
income countries are the most vulnerable, and they are the ones we will
initially support in promoting more transparent, money-saving tactics." 

A two-day meeting to set out strategies and set up the new initiative is
taking place at WHO Headquarters, Geneva, on 30-31 October 2006.  

For more information or to consult experts at the end of either day please
ring:
Dr. Guitelle Baghdadi-Sabeti, Technical Officer, Medicines Policy and
Standards, WHO, mobile. +41 79 5006501; or
Daniela Bagozzi, Communications Officer, WHO, mobile, +41 79 475 54 90

*Transparency International, Global Corruption Report 2006
http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr

For WHO's work on good governance in the medicines sector, please see:
http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/policy/goodgovernance/home/en/index.html