Corruption in health systems as a structural and pervasive threat to health systems worldwide It is a global crisis that undermines equity, erodes trust, and costs lives. The Lancet Global Health Commission is leading a bold initiative to confront this challenge with practical, evidence-based solutions.
Our mission:
Expose how corruption impacts health outcomes and access to care.
Develop strategies that strengthen institutions, embed safeguards, and foster accountability to address systemic drivers—from governance and economic conditions to labour rights.
Suggest preventative measures that can strengthen resilience against health sector corruption
Engage policymakers, civil society, and health professionals for real-world reforms.
We aim to spark a global movement for integrity in health systems—ensuring resources reach those who need them most.
Announcing the Lancet Global Health Commission on Anti-Corruption in Health.
David Clarke is a senior governance and policy leader with 25+ years advancing transparency, accountability, and reform in health systems. As WHO Team Lead for Governance, Law, and Reform, he founded the global ACTA initiative and convenes GNACTA. As Lancet Commissioner, he redefines anti-corruption as a public health imperative driving universal health coverage.
Dr Walter Flores is a social scientist and human rights advocate. He has worked in more than 30 countries from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. His areas of expertise are health systems and policy, right to health and indigenous populations, social accountability, legal empowerment, and community participation.
Kalipso Chalkidou, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Department of Health System Performance, Financing and Delivery at WHO HQ. Before joining WHO she founded and led the Department of Health Finance at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She is a Visiting Professor of Global Health at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London and before moving to Geneva she was Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Girija Vaidyanathan is an Indian civil servant with wide experience in implementation and financing of schemes in the development sector, having spent nearly fifteen years in the Health, Nutrition and Environment sector in various leadership positions. After her retirement, she is currently associated as Professor of Practice in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Dr. Ulana Suprun served as (acting) Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 through 2019. She and her team successfully reformed and modernised Ukraine’s healthcare system by passing and implementing legislation providing universal coverage through the creation of the National Health Service of Ukraine and raising the quality and improving access to healthcare for all Ukrainians.
Dr. Vian is the founder of Lone Mountain Global (https://lonemountainglobal.com), a global consulting firm. She was previously a full professor at University of San Francisco and the Boston University School of Public Health. An expert in anti-corruption, transparency and accountability, she has worked in 45 countries and published over 90 articles, chapters, and reports on these topics.
Monica Kirya is a lawyer and scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of anti-corruption, gender justice, and institutional reform, focusing on how laws and institutions can uphold dignity, justice, and fairness in everyday governance. She is Principal Adviser at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre in Bergen, Norway.
Jonathan is a health systems governance specialist with over 20 years of experience working with governments to strengthen health systems. Jonathan has worked with partners across Africa, Asia, and Europe to make health systems more transparent, and resilient to corruption. Currently working for Oxford Policy Management, Jonathan previously led Transparency International’s Global Health programme between 2019 and 2025.
Obinna Emmanuel Onwujekwe is a Professor of Health Economics, Systems & Policy in the Department of Health Administration and Management, University of Nigeria. He coordinates the Health Policy Research Group and is a member of the African Advisory Committee on Health Research and Development of WHO AFRO.
Hon. Keith Martin MD, PC, is a Canadian physician and currently is the founding executive director of the Washington, DC based Consortium of Universities for Global Health. Prior to that he was a Member of Parliament in Canada's House of Commons (1993–2011).
André Carletto is a Senior Economist at the World Bank with over twenty-five years’ experience in financial risk management, institutional strengthening, and project management across Latin America, Africa, and East Asia Pacific, working in emergency/crisis response and health sector strengthening.
Zoë Mullan is Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Global Health and Inclusion & Diversity Lead for The Lancet Group. She is an Ex-Officio Board Member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health and a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Centre for International Health Protection at the Robert Koch Institute, Germany.
Dina Balabanova, Professor in Health Systems and Policy at LSHTM, leads work on health systems strengthening, effective delivery models, and governance, including institutional anti-corruption strategies. She co-founded Health System Global’s Group Action on Accountability and Anti-corruption for SDGs and co-chairs the Lancet Global Health Commission on Anti-corruption in Health.
Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health at LSHTM and Co-Director, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. He studies health impacts of major social, economic, and political transitions. A past president of the European Public Health Association, he co-chairs the Lancet Global Health Commission on Anti-corruption in Health.
Bluesky: @martinmckee.bsky.social
Neil Spicer is an Associate Professor in Global Health Policy at the Department of Global Health and Development, LSHTM and has more than fifteen years of experience of qualitative health policy and systems research in low- and middle-income countries. Neil has a PhD in geography from Glasgow University.
I am a social anthropologist and work on primary health care in pluralistic health systems. Across public, private and voluntary sectors, I ask questions about everyday practice and discourse: whose rules and values prevail; how are they related to social networks, personhood and the formulation of ethical practice?
Preslava Stoeva is an international relations specialist and qualitative researcher. She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Health and Development, LSHTM. Preslava holds a PhD in political science from the University of Exeter. Her teaching and research focus on the politics and governance of global health.
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