National transparency assessment of Kuwait's pharmaceutical sector

Corruption is one of several factors that may hinder the access to pharmaceuticals. Since Kuwait has the highest per-capita spending on pharmaceuticals in the region, we wanted to evaluate the level of transparency in its pharmaceutical sector using an established assessment tool adapted by the World Health Organization.

Standardized questionnaires were conducted via semi-structured interviews with key informants to measure the level of transparency in eight functions of the public pharmaceutical sector.

The scores for the degree of vulnerability to corruption reflected marginal to moderate venerability to corruption for most pharmaceutical sectors. The perceived strengths included availability of appropriate laws, the presence of clear standard operating procedures, and the use of an efficient registration/distribution system. Weaknesses included lack of conflict of interest guidelines and written terms of reference, absence of pharmacoeconomic studies, and inconsistencies in law enforcement.

Findings reveal that few functions of Kuwait pharmaceutical sector remain fairly vulnerable to corruption. However, the willingness of Kuwait Ministry of Health to adopt the assessment study and the acknowledgement of the weaknesses of current processes of the pharmaceutical sector may assist to achieve a transparent pharmaceutical system in the near future.