Addressing Corruption in the Crisis Response of the Malawian Health System

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This project aims to tackle corruption in crisis responses within the Malawian healthcare system. It will conduct a comprehensive analysis to identify and categorize various forms of corruption that arise or worsen during crises. The goal is to gain a thorough understanding of the drivers and facilitators of corruption that severely hinder the effectiveness of emergency interventions in the health system.

Click here for the Project One-Pager

To learn more about this project, contact Principal Investigator Dr. Claudia Baez Camargo.

Project Summary

This project will address corruption in crisis responses in the Malawian health system. The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges to health systems around the world of a magnitude not seen in recent history. It revealed that the burden corruption imposes on health systems is exacerbated during moments of crisis. We will undertake a holistic mapping of the types of corruption that arise or become exacerbated during crises, aimed at gaining a thorough understanding of the drivers and enablers of the types of corruption that gravely hamper the health system’s emergency response. We will adopt cutting edge, behavioural science-based and technology-informed approaches and also engage key Government of Malawi practitioners in the project design and implementation. This will provide the basis upon which robust and effective anti-corruption interventions in support of emergency responses can be developed.

Policy and Programming Implications

The project will regularly engage development partners and private sector actors to explore diverse modalities for financing and long-term sustainability of the project’s proposed interventions. The team’s local, regional and international networks will enable robust dissemination of project findings, which will be amplified through the publication of written outputs in different formats tailored to a variety of audiences.

Research Questions

  • What patterns of corruption practices have affected the emergency response of the Malawian health system during three recent major crises with health implications: a) the COVID pandemic, b) the ongoing cholera outbreaks, c) catastrophic climate events such as Cyclone Freddy.
  • What evidence-based and tailored interventions could be deployed to address those corruption patterns in order to strengthen the crisis preparedness and response of the Malawian health system?

Methodology

The first stage will involve collecting information on different types of corruption arising in the emergency response of the Malawian health system to the COVID 19 pandemic, the recurrent cholera outbreaks and catastrophic climatic events.The first data collection round will be based on the experiences of and data collected by the local project partners (ACB and OoO), desk research, access to existing databases and data from a survey previously conducted.

Research Team Members

  • Dr Claudia Baez Camargo, Head of Prevention, Research and Innovation, Basel Institute on Governance.
  • Prof. Dina Balabanova, Professor of Health Systems and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
  • Prof. Eric Umar (Lead Senior Researcher Malawi), Professor, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS).
  • Dr. Eleanor Hutchinson, Associate Professor in Anthropology and Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
  • Dr. Mariazel Maqueda López, Head of PeaceTech Division, Essential Tech Centre at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
  • Prof. Thorsten Chmura, Experimental and Behavioural Economics at Nottingham Trent University and the Director of the Centre for Behavioural Sciences at the Nottingham Business School
  • Mr Ezilon Kasoka, Senior Corruption Prevention Officer, Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
  • Mr Dennis Chizenga, Corruption Prevention Officer, Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
  • Ms Martha Kwengwere, Director of Investigations and Research, Office of the Ombudsman of Malawi (OoO).
  • Mr Temwa Mughogho, Deputy Director of Investigations and Research, Office of the Ombudsman of Malawi (OoO).
  • Mr George Makande, Senior Corruption Prevention Officer, Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).