Good Governance for Medicines
Theft, extortion and abuse … the US$ 5.3 trillion-plus spent on health services
worldwide each year are an obvious target for corruption. In fact, Transparency International estimates that 10 to 25 % of global public health procurement spending is siphoned off and stolen. Life-saving resources are being snatched away from the millions of people that need them most. The pharmaceutical sector, with its US$ 750 billion global market value, is vulnerable to fraud.
The Good Governance for Medicines programme's goal is to improve this situation. Guided by WHO’s Medicines Strategy 2004-2007 and launched in late 2004, the programme is raising awareness of abuse in the public pharmaceutical sector and promoting good governance. Its ultimate aim is to ensure that pharmaceutical spending is not misappropriated and essential medicines reach people - not the black market.
The World Bank has identified corruption as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development. And as the Good Governance project increases in momentum, more and more public health ministers and national medicines regulatory authorities are taking up the challenge to address it.
Fact sheet - Medicines: corruption and pharmaceuticals
- Goal and specific objectives
- Why is good governance relevant to the pharmaceutical public sector?
- Implementation of the project
- Country progress to date and future development
- Global advisory group
- Related documents
- Partners
- Useful links
- Past events
Contact
Good Governance for Medicines, Medicines Access and Rational Use, Health Systems and Services, E-mail: ggminfo@who.int