Informal payments and the quality of health care: Mechanisms revealed by Tanzanian health workers

Rethinking informal payments by patients in Europe: An institutional approach

“…This has been identified in studies conducted in large geographical areas, such as in 35 European countries [26], Central Asia [30] as well as in 33 African countries [31], or in smaller studies comprising only one nation as, for example, Bulgaria [1,6,13,32,33], Poland [34,35], Hungary [2,[36][37][38][39][40], Greece [4,41], Lithuania [34,42], Russia [43,44]; Ukraine [34,45], Moldova [46], Serbia [47], Kazakhstan [48], Albania [5,49,50], Kosovo [8], Tajikistan [51,52], Kyrgyzstan [53], Taiwan [54], Cameroon [55], Tanzania [3,56] and Turkey [57]. Nevertheless, informal patient payments phenomenon is poorly examined at a cross-country level.…”

“…Over the last two decades or so, a growing literature reveals how patients in many countries around the world, particularly in the former communist countries and other low and middle income countries, use informal payments to seek either better treatment [1][2][3][4][5][6], an additional service [7], due to their fear of being denied treatment [5,8], because the "doctor demanded payment" [4], because there is a tradition of giving a gift to express gratitude [4,5,9] or just "because everybody does it" [4]. Given that some 35-60% of patients make informal payments in Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine [10], tackling this phenomenon can be seen as central and essential to building a healthcare system which is not based on bribes and corruption, and provides more equal access [11][12][13].…”

Financial obligations and economic barriers to antiretroviral therapy experienced by HIV-positive women who participated in a job-creation programme in northern Uganda

“…Participants’ perceived need for informal payments are important as these perceptions may influence women’s interactions with healthcare providers and women’s satisfaction with the services received, all of which may influence ART adherence (Murphy et al 2000; Watt et al 2010; Campbell et al 2011). Recently, researchers have begun documenting the existence of informal payments for health services (Maestad and Mwisongo 2011; Wojczewski et al 2015; Kankeu et al 2014). Additional research is needed to understand the prevelance of informal payments and the contexts in which they occur.…”

Nuclear Borders: Informally Negotiating the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

“…Doctors were bribed not only for better healthcare, but to diagnose a more lucrative Chernobyl disability status (Petryna, 2002). Sites of healthcare, such as hospitals, are well--known spaces of informal exchange (Maestad and Mwisongo, 2011;Morris and Polese, 2014;Polese, 2006Polese, , 2008, but Chernobyl presented a scenario where an individual's entire bio--political status could be altered through bribery and connections. New forms of 'biocitizenship' (Petryna, 2002) surfaced after Chernobylwhereby a higher disability status equalled more social benefits.…”