Corruption and the Right to Health: Unpacking Legal Frameworks and Procurement Failures in the Global Health Sector

Corruption in the health sector is not just a governance failure, it is a human rights crisis. When resources meant for hospitals and patients are siphoned off through bribery, procurement fraud, or favouritism, the result is more than just inefficiency. It is the systemic denial of people’s right to access quality healthcare, especially for the poor and marginalised.

This issue was at the heart of the UNCAC Coalition’s 7th Working Group Meeting on Corruption and the Right to Health, held virtually on Tuesday, 6 May 2025. The meeting brought together key voices to unpack the interlinkages between corruption and the right to health, with presentations from Daniela Cepeda of the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre and Kristen Robinson of the Open Contracting Partnership.
The discussion is especially timely, coming at a period marked by a troubling rise in global democratic backsliding. From military takeovers to entrenched grand corruption and increasing cases of state capture, health systems already strained by limited resources are being further weakened by corruption that thrives in contexts of poor accountability and weakened rule of law.

To contextualise this crisis, the meeting explored the international legal frameworks that enshrine the right to health. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), in Article 12, recognises “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” Article 12 further obligates state parties to take steps to ensure medical service access for all, particularly in the event of illness. Article 2.1 of the same covenant underscores that states must mobilise the maximum of their available resources and use international cooperation to progressively realise these rights, including through legislative measures.

Cepeda highlighted the magnitude of the problem, noting that an estimated 7.3% of global health expenditure is lost annually to corruption, contributing indirectly to approximately 140,000 child deaths. Corruption manifests across all components of health systems—governance, financing, service delivery, human resources, and supply chains—through practices such as procurement fraud, informal payments, data manipulation, and favouritism. These practices disproportionately impact women, people with disabilities, rural residents, the elderly, and the poor, who face systemic barriers and exploitative demands at the point of care.

Importantly, Cepeda emphasized that health sector corruption is intertwined with broader regulatory failures in sectors like sanitation, food safety, and pharmaceuticals. When policy-making is influenced by vested interests, public trust and equity in health service delivery are severely compromised.

In her session titled “Bargaining for Your Life”, Robinson examined procurement corruption as a major contributor to health sector inefficiencies. She illustrated how opaque procurement systems enable price inflation and restrict access to essential medicines—citing cases where the price of life-saving drugs increased dramatically due to patent monopolies and lack of transparency. Donor aid cuts have further diminished the bargaining power of low-income countries, leaving them vulnerable in procurement negotiations.

To address these challenges, Robinson advocated for specific reforms: publishing open procurement data, improving quantification of needs, revising essential medicine lists, adopting digital systems, disclosing unit prices, and strengthening civil society engagement in monitoring procurement processes. These measures, she argued, are essential to building transparent and accountable health systems.
The meeting concluded with a consensus that tackling corruption in healthcare must be rooted in a rights-based framework. Recognising corruption as a violation of the right to health reframes the issue as one of justice and state accountability. This perspective is especially pertinent as the global community prepares for the 11th Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC (CoSP11) and the 4th Financing for Development Conference (FFD4), offering a critical opportunity to embed human rights in global anti-corruption strategies.