Corruption in drug treatment systems, innovation against corrupt practices.

Author(s)

Alejandra Cervantes Nieto, Christian David Bonilla Castaño

Abstract

What makes drug treatment systems vulnerable to corruption and how can this be mitigated by innovation that promotes transparency? Research on corruption in health systems has been fundamental for policy-makers to identify the negative impact of this phenomenon on the healthcare sector overall. However, research on specific types of corruption in drug treatment services - a system with a unique constellation of stakeholders remains very limited. The following paper seeks to contribute to this knowledge gap by understanding how corruption weakens drug
treatment systems per its nature, and provide recommendations that could help international organizations such as the UNODC and countries interested in implementing strategies to strengthen transparency in drug treatment services. The paper uses a multi-method research design that relies on a qualitative analysis of selected drug legislations (regulation of treatment) and a quantitative analysis driven by an online survey of professionals working in drug treatment. The paper concludes that mechanisms to combat corruption should strengthen data collection to include more criteria for assessing the quality of services provided to boost compliance and improve transparency levels of public and private providers. The digitalization of processes to reduce bureaucratic hurdles to access treatment and public-private partnerships with social media platforms would also facilitate communication about treatment, patient rights, and the duties of providers to vulnerable groups such as young people and people who use drugs (PWUDs) with lower income levels.

Organisation(s)

Department of East Asian Studies

External organisation(s)

Universitat de Barcelona

Pages

1-43

No. of pages

43

Publication date

02-2023

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

506010 Policy analysis

Keywords

Portal url

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/corruption-in-drug-treatment-systems-innovation-against-corrupt-practices(a65d4c41-d05d-44ad-bb66-a2409772b95d).html