Transparency International (TI)B : Pharma en la mira...

Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption organization currently best known for its Corruption Perceptions Index, now has pharma in its sights. Pharm Exec spoke to Sophie Peresson (S.P.), Director of TI’s Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Program, about how the organization will go about understanding and combating corruption in the sector.

Sophie Peresson*

S.P.: Seventeen per cent of people worldwide stated they had paid a bribe when dealing with the medical sector in a global survey of 114,000 citizens in 2013, and 45 per cent believed medical and health services to be corrupt or extremely corrupt. Other surveys, such as Transparency International’s Bribe Payers Index, reinforce this finding. 
With global spending on health of around US$7 trillion annually, the size of funds flowing through the healthcare sector makes it a lucrative and attractive target for corruption. Estimates of global health public procurement funds lost to corruption range from ten to twenty five per cent. Yet if only one percent of global health spending were lost to corruption, representing $US70 billion, and it was put back into healthcare, this would be US$10 billion more than the sum that would have been needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on health. 
 The pharmaceutical industry has a responsibility to be transparent and accountable and to reduce its role in corruption, thereby increasing health equity. 
The purpose of TI’s Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Program is to achieve genuine change in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector through reducing corruption and promoting transparency, integrity and accountability. We will apply TI’s strengths and expertise to contribute to the program’s overall goal of improving global health and healthcare outcomes for the benefit of all people of all ages. (Más)

 

Corruption in the pharmaceuticals & healthcare sector from Global Development Institute

(*)Sophie Peresson joined Transparency International’s Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Programme as Programme Director in November 2015, setting the overall direction and strategy of the Programme. She has over fifteen years’ experience of working in public health, working for influential international NGOs such as the Red Cross and Marie Stopes International. Sophie has significant experience in the public health field, spanning both communicable and non-communicable diseases. She holds a Masters in Law from the Sorbonne University, a post-graduate degree from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University. She is currently completing an MSc in Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Sophie speaks English, French and Spanish