Article
February 28, 2022
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant around the world has been one of many consequences of global vaccine inequity. New mutations and variants of the Coronavirus will continue to emerge and the unvaccinated elderly, people with comorbidities or health workers will continue to face an increased risk of hospitalisation or even...
By Emily Wegener, TI Global Health Securing a sufficient supply of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is of course one of the biggest priorities for governments around the world right now. The European Union has chosen to jointly negotiate, procure, and centrally distribute the vaccines to Member States[1]. But it has remained silent about...
Article
December 21, 2021
International Anti-Corruption Day highlights: Is COVID-19 vaccine nationalism a case of corruption? Only about a year ago, the World Health Organization approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, fuelling hopes that it would soon help beat the pandemic. However, what started as hope for a global and joint response hasn’t benefited everyone equally. Very...
Article
September 21, 2021
By Natalie Rhodes The UK is falling behind as countries around the world introduce legislation to increase the transparency of payments made from the pharmaceutical industry to healthcare professionals. The ability of the pharmaceutical industry to influence healthcare policy and decision making through gifts and payments is well established in the UK and around...
Open Contracting for Health (OC4H) is a FCDO funded project, which seeks to improve the transparency of public procurement in the health sector. The project works with chapters across Africa and South East Asia. Since 2018, Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) have been working towards developing the capacity of government partners to implement open contracting, through...
By Natalie Rhodes, Policy Officer Last month the Belgian Secretary of State tweeted the prices their government has paid for a range of COVID-19 vaccines. It was quickly taken down but offered a rare glimpse into the details of the agreements between pharmaceutical companies and government. This secrecy over government contracts with pharmaceutical companies is not...
