How honesty helps heal during a pandemic

One little-noticed news story during the pandemic has been a wave of protests by health workers in Africa. In Zimbabwe, nurses went on strike for more pay after reports of health care money being spent on expensive cars for officials. Doctors in Sierra Leone went on strike for similar misuse of health funds. In South Africa, health workers have staged rolling protests even as investigators probe massive corruption in the purchase of personal protective equipment.

One good example of this upwelling for honesty and transparency in response to the coronavirus comes from Congo, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Last year, a group of health care workers in Congo went on strike after not being paid for three months – soon after Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba claimed he had spent $10.7 million in fighting the virus. His own frontman on COVID-19 said he had received only $1.2 million.

In addition, Denis Mukwege, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a doctor, resigned as head of a coronavirus task force in Congo, citing organizational problems. He later advocated a “break” with corruption and “the men who have compromised themselves in various crimes.” (Nearly 4 in 5 Congolese believe that all or most parliamentarians are involved in corruption, according to a recent poll by Transparency International.)

Last Friday, Prime Minister Ilunkamba was forced to resign, a day after the National Assembly censured him for incompetence. His ouster was seen as a victory for the anti-corruption efforts of President Félix Tshisekedi.

Africa is not the only place where the pandemic has pushed people to demand integrity in the management of the crisis. Even before COVID-19, for example, 28% of health-related corruption cases in the European Union were related to procurement of medical equipment. The continent has seen heightened pressure to prosecute those who siphon off money for the crisis or seek bribes in the delivery of health goods.

“COVID-19 is not just a health and economic crisis. It is a corruption crisis,” says Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International. “The past year has tested governments like no other in memory, and those with higher levels of corruption have been less able to meet the challenge.”

A study of pandemic-related graft by the Berlin-based watchdog found that “fighting corruption is key to ensuring better preparedness for crises responses.” Transparency in government is key to the fair and efficient management of emergencies, the study states, “as it helps ensure that the resources reach their intended beneficiaries.”

Often it is local health workers who best understand the link between health outcomes and the need for integrity in the health industry. The protests in Africa and elsewhere are signs of how the pandemic has shown that honesty is necessary for healing.