Authors ' conclusions There is a paucity of evidence regarding how best to reduce corruption .
Promising interventions include improvements in the  detection and punishment of corruption  , especially efforts that are coordinated by an independent agency .
Other promising interventions include guidelines that prohibit doctors from accepting benefits from the pharmaceutical industry , internal control practice s in community health centres , and increased transparency and accountability for co-payments combined with reduced incentives for informal payments .
Key messages The review suggests that some strategies to fight corruption in the health sector can have an effect on corruption .
This study shows that these strategies may have led to fewer patients giving their doctors informal payments ( low certainty evidence ) . •
The study suggests that this may have changed doctors ' attitudes about the influence of pharmaceutical companies on their choice of medicines ( low certainty evidence ) . •
We do n't know what the effects of these strategies have on healthcare or people 's health , or if these strategies had any harmful effects .
Background Corruption is the abuse or complicity in abuse , of public or private position , power or authority to benefit oneself , a group , an organisation or others close to oneself ; where the benefits may be financial , material or non- material .
It is wide-spread in the health sector and represents a major problem .
Objectives Our primary objective was to systematic ally summarise empirical evidence of the effects of strategies to reduce corruption in the health sector .
Our secondary objective was to describe the range of strategies that have been tried and to guide future evaluations of promising strategies for which there is insufficient evidence .
The extent to which increased transparency alone reduces corruption is uncertain .
Interventions to reduce corruption in the health sector What is the aim of this review ?
The aim of this Cochrane review is to assess the effectiveness of strategies to reduce corruption in the health sector .
Corruption can occur in any area of the health sector , and happens when people abuse their own position to benefit themselves , their organisation , or other people close to them .
It can take many forms , including bribes , theft , or giving incorrect or inaccurate information deliberately .
It can take money away from healthcare , lead to poorer quality care and make access to healthcare unfair , and often affects poor people the hardest .
Analysis of Drug Authentication at the Point of Dispensing in Belgian and Greek Community Pharmacies
Background : Authentication processes based on mass serialization technology may help to make the drug supply more secure for patients . Objective : To analyze the AegateProtect service , a new drug authentication service implemented in Belgian and Greek community pharmacies . Methods : A prospect i ve analysis conducted via a mystery shopper audit assessed the reliability of the authentication service in a sample of Belgian community pharmacies . A retrospective analysis evaluated the effectiveness of the authentication service in Belgian and Greek community pharmacies in terms of the number of scans relating to authentic , recalled , expired , and suspicious products . Also , the costs of providing an authentication service in a hypothetical country were weighed against the benefits in terms of preventing the dispensing of subst and ard drugs . Results : The authentication service attained a sample reliability of 100 % ( 95 % CI 99.8 to 100 ) in Belgium . The 220,751 scans tested in Belgium during June – August 2008 consisted of authentic products ( 96.13 % of scans ) , recalled products ( 0.74 % ) , products that may be recalled ( 3.00 % ) , and expired products ( 0.13 % ) . No suspicious products were identified . Similar results were observed in Greece . For a hypothetical country , a modeling exercise showed that an authentication service  would become cost-neutral in a scenario in which 0.47 % of products per year are identified as recalled or expired . Conclusions : A drug authentication process such as the AegateProtect service is reliable and effective in identifying recalled , expired , and suspicious drugs in community pharmacies at the point of dispensing . The proportion of products identified as recalled , expired , or suspicious in a given country determines the level of cost benefits of an authentication service
Authors ' conclusions There is a paucity of evidence regarding how best to reduce corruption .
Promising interventions include improvements in the  detection and punishment of corruption  , especially efforts that are coordinated by an independent agency .
Other promising interventions include guidelines that prohibit doctors from accepting benefits from the pharmaceutical industry , internal control practice s in community health centres , and increased transparency and accountability for co-payments combined with reduced incentives for informal payments .
Key messages The review suggests that some strategies to fight corruption in the health sector can have an effect on corruption .
This study shows that these strategies may have led to fewer patients giving their doctors informal payments ( low certainty evidence ) . •
The study suggests that this may have changed doctors ' attitudes about the influence of pharmaceutical companies on their choice of medicines ( low certainty evidence ) . •
We do n't know what the effects of these strategies have on healthcare or people 's health , or if these strategies had any harmful effects .
Background Corruption is the abuse or complicity in abuse , of public or private position , power or authority to benefit oneself , a group , an organisation or others close to oneself ; where the benefits may be financial , material or non- material .
It is wide-spread in the health sector and represents a major problem .
Objectives Our primary objective was to systematic ally summarise empirical evidence of the effects of strategies to reduce corruption in the health sector .
Our secondary objective was to describe the range of strategies that have been tried and to guide future evaluations of promising strategies for which there is insufficient evidence .
The extent to which increased transparency alone reduces corruption is uncertain .
Interventions to reduce corruption in the health sector What is the aim of this review ?
The aim of this Cochrane review is to assess the effectiveness of strategies to reduce corruption in the health sector .
Corruption can occur in any area of the health sector , and happens when people abuse their own position to benefit themselves , their organisation , or other people close to them .
It can take many forms , including bribes , theft , or giving incorrect or inaccurate information deliberately .
It can take money away from healthcare , lead to poorer quality care and make access to healthcare unfair , and often affects poor people the hardest .