On February 9, Regional Dialogue along with Yuksalish Movement and the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan, brought together representatives of the parliament, academia, civil society, and expert community for the public hearings of the reports on corruption and integrity risks in education and obstetrics sectors. In his opening remarks, the US Ambassador Jonathan Henick assured strong commitment of the US to tackle corruption both at home and abroad and called for a greater involvement of civil society in anti-corruption efforts. Regional Dialogue Director and Co-founder Mjuša Sever pointed out just that unique feature of the Anti-Corruption Laboratories as the first ever joint effort of state and civil society to analyse corruption risks and formulate recommendations for decision-makers.
The second part of the conference focused on the results of Anti-Corruption Laboratories in the field of obstetrics healthcare. Bobur Bekmurodov, Chairman of the Yuksalish Movement, stressed the significance of this project for Uzbekistan by pointing out that more than half of the recommendations from the first surveys have been implemented by the parliament and the government. The findings showed that most of the corruption and integrity risk factors relate to poor working conditions in healthcare, ranging from low salaries, lack of personnel and unpaid overtime, and lack of legislation protecting healthcare professionals. To paint the picture more bluntly, 71 % of respondents from the regional health institutions confirmed unofficial payments in the healthcare sector. As discussions revealed that the path to the solution is not as straightforward as one would assume. Improvement cannot happen without an improved financing of the health system, enhanced legislative safeguards, as well as adequate staffing processes based on clearer standards of treatment.
To learn more about the results of the topic, you can read the full reports on “Integrity Risks in Assessing Student Knowledge in Higher Education" and "Integrity and Corruption Risks in Obstetrics Provision”. You can view the publications here.
You can view and download the publications below:
