The UNDP project expected to help improve capacity in good governance, transparency, and integrity in public health procurement in Vietnam - Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) The project is supported by the Bureau of InternationalNarcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs under the US Department of State, and theUNDP’s Anti-Corruption for Peaceful and Inclusive Societies (ACPIS) GlobalProgramme. It is partly sponsored by the Norwegian Government through the ACPISprogramme, with an aim to improving anti-corruption and transparency in thehealth sector in Vietnam.
As a result of its comprehensive economic reforms from 1986,Vietnam’s economic growth has recently been ranked among the highest in theregion.
Recognising corruption as a major obstacle to economicdevelopment, the Vietnamese Party and State have carried out different reforms toincrease confidence of people, businesses and foreign investors in publicgovernance, and step up the fight against corruption and negative phenomena. This project aims to support these reforms.
The 27-month project is expected to help enhance capacities of anti-corruption agencies in effective measurement and monitoringof SDG anticorruption targets, and increase participation of the society inanti-corruption fight; strengthen anti-corruption legal framework and law enforcement in the implementation of UNCACcommitments and recommendations on preventive measures and asset recovery; and improve capacity in good governance, transparency, and integrity in public healthprocurement in Vietnam.
Addressing the launch, UNDP Resident RepresentativeDesignate in Vietnam Ramla Khalidi highlighted the need to involve allstakeholders in corruption control and prevention.
“UNDP recognises the importance of mainstreaminganti-corruption as a cross-cutting enabler for the broader development agendaand the need to incorporate anti-corruption measures in the implementation ofthe 2030 Agenda,” she said. “In this regard, we continue to work onstrengthening the role of anti-corruption networks of governments, civilsociety, businesses and academia to promote a ‘whole-of-society approach’ topreventing and combating corruption.”
Khalidi also noted that ICT and new technologies could be agame changer in preventing and combating corruption. “There is clear synergybetween the UNDP Digital Strategy and Vietnam’s Digital Transformation Plan,and I look forward to further engagement with Government on supporting theirdigital transformation efforts over the coming years,” she said.
According to the Provincial Governance and PublicAdministration Performance Index (PAPI), after 10 years of progressiveimprovement, there were declining levels of satisfaction in 2021, for examplewith health services, particularly those provided by public district hospitals. There was a slight annual increase in thenumber of citizens who revealed that bribes were necessary to realise bettercare at public district hospitals (from 27 to 28%). At the same time, overallcontrol of corruption in the public sector saw the first decline, although notstatistically significant (from 6.90 to 6.88 points) since the anti-corruptioncampaign was initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2016.
These results demonstrate the complexity and challenges ofgoverning through a global pandemic, which are not unique to Vietnam but toall countries around the world. They also highlight the absolute necessity tofurther strengthen the implementation of UNCAC, to ensure a recovery from thepandemic that is fair to everyone and leaves no one behind.
In June of this year, in collaboration with the UNDP, the VCCIpublished a report on business perceptions of public procurement. The reportfound that over one-third of businesses agree that paying a commission isessential to improve chances of winning a contract. This figure rises to 50%for businesses supplying medical equipment to public medical service providers.
“The cost of corruption is greater than the sum of lostmoney,” Hilde Solbakken, Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam, stressed in herremarks. “It undermines the ability of the state to promote sustainable andinclusive growth. It drains public resources away from education, health care,and effective infrastructure - the kinds of investments that can improveeconomic performance and raise living standards for all.”
The UN Convention Against Corruption is the only legallybinding universal anti-corruption instrument. UNCAC and its ImplementationReview Mechanism have been critical in stimulating anti-corruption reforms andstrengthening national commitments to act against corruption. Vietnam ratifiedUNCAC in 2009 and since then has continued strengthening its implementation./.
VNA
