Informal economic activities of public health workers in Uganda: implications for quality and accessibility
Abstract
This paper reports the results of a study in Uganda of the \"informal\" economic activities of health workers, defined as those which earn incomes but fall outside official duties and earnings. The study was carried out in 10 sub-hospital health facilities of varying size and intended role and used a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper focuses on those activities which are carried out inside public health facilities and which directly affect quality and accessibility of care. The main strategies in this category were the leakage of drug supply, the informal charging of patients and the mismanagement of revenues raised from the formal charging of patients.
Citation
Social Science and Medicine (1999) 49 (7) 849-865 [doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00144-6]