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Anti-corruption in the health sector in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian countries present economic, cultural and political conditions that have varying effects on the reform and implementation of anti-corruption efforts in healthcare systems. The most common corrupt practices in the health systems of several of Southeast Asian countries are nepotism, mismanagement of resources, capture of the sector by pharmaceutical and medical providers, bribery and informal payments. Anti-corruption interventions in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors in the region have consisted of promoting integrity, transparency and accountability, quality control testing and social accountability. There is a lack of conclusive empirical evidences about the impact of anti-corruption interventions in the health sector in these countries.

19 December 2018
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Anti-corruption in the health sector in Southeast Asia

Main points

  • In some Southeast Asian countries, anti-corruption interventions to promote integrity in the health sector clash with social expectations of how social interactions should take place.
  • National programmes to guarantee health coverage to poorer populations have indirectly helped to reduce the incentives for bribery in health service delivery.
  • International initiatives to promote transparency and accountability in the pharmaceutical sector have been implemented in several countries in the region.

Cite this publication


Zúñiga, N.; (2018) Anti-corruption in the health sector in Southeast Asia. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2018:25)

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Nieves Zúñiga

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All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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