Special News--June 2022
Moral Health for a More Whole WorldGlobal Integrity Day--9 June 2022
Integrity and Corruption in the Health Sector
"Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Corruption is moral rottenness, the opposite of integrity--the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the abuse and exploitation of people and the planet. It is integroty. Global integrity is living consistently in moral wholeness at all levels--individual, interpersonal, institutional, and international; across sectors and settings; local through global; the systemic and structural." Global Integrity Day website ---------
Overview
What does integrity have to do with wellbeing and sustainable development? Everything! Integrity is at the core of moral health. And moral health at all levels--like global integrity--must be at the core of promoting and protecting wholeness for all people and the planet. There is no "planetary health" without moral health!
In this Update we focus (again!) on the very practical and personal linking of our work in global integration with integrity. Specifically we present a selection of five "spotlight events" for you from Global Integrity Day--9 June 2022. The focus this year is on "integrity and corruption in the health sector."
These special events are free, on-demand video-webinars that can further equip you and colleagues across sectors with the understanding and tools for fostering integrity and fighting anti-corruption. We are both honored and challenged to be the initial GID convenors and website coordinators since the GID launch in 2020!
Have a Look!
Take a few minutes to review the materials that we present below. Note the ones you would like to explore further. You will find a description of GID's empahses, a list of the GID spotlight events with suggestions for applications, examples of new resouces on the GID website, and ways to get involved in GID. Spread the word!
Going Further--see these Global Integration Updates:
--Climate-Conflict-Corruption: Safeguarding People and the Planet (July 2021)
--Global Integrity Day and Moral Health (January 2019)
--Everyday Global Heroes: Moral Lives Matter (August 2017)
--Living in Global Integrity (April 2017)
Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle
MCAresources@gmail.com
Featured Resources
Moral Health for a More Whole World
Global Integrity Day--9 June 2022
Integrity and Corruption in the Health Sector
“Corruption is criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust.….We must hold leaders to account….A vibrant civic space and open access to information are essential. And we must protect the rights and recognize the courage of whistle-blowers who expose wrongdoing….As an age-old plague takes on new forms, let us combat it with new heights of resolve.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Statement on corruption in the context of COVID-19 (15 October 2020)
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What is GID?
Four foundational emphases
"Global Integrity Day (GID) is a positive day to reflect, teach, and collaborate on ways to integrate integrity in all we do throughout the entire year.
GID is a strategic day to promote a) cultivating lifestyles, cultures, and systems of integrity from the individual through the international levels; b) joining together to understand and address the causes and consequences of corruption in its many forms; and c) working towards just and equitable societies marked with wellbeing for all people and for the planet.
GID is a solemn day to consider our ways: if we are lying and/or stealing in any way big or small, then we need to stop it. If we need to right a wrong we have done, then do so. If we need to prudently confront wrongdoing, preferably in solidarity with colleagues for mutual support and greater impact, then do so.
GID is a companion day to complement UN International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December (and vice versa). Both Days are practical rallying points, six months apart, for fostering common ground, organizing events, sharing initiatives, and involving the public." (description from the Global Integrity Day website)
Spotlight Events
Integrity and corruption in the health sector
Spotlight Event 1. Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Health Care: Why Do We Speak So Little About Them? (13 December 2021), a one-hour webinar organized by the Faith and Public Integrity Network.
Spotlight Event 2. Contributions for Moral Health from Peace Psychology (7 November 2018), a 25 minute presentation during Geneva Peace Week, held at United Nations.
Spotlight Event 3. Breaking Vicious Cycles of Dirty Money and Impunity (4 December 2020), a plenary from the 19th International Anti-Corruption Conference (90 minutes with Q and A).
Spotlight Event 4. Integrity and Anti-Corruption on the Frontlines (30 April 2022), five interviews with advocates in the Christian faith-based sector around the world organized by Lausanne-WEA Global Integrity Network (about 20 minutes each).
Spotlight Event 5. The Use of Technologies for Battling Corruption (free e-course available online from 9 May-June 20--in Arabic and English) offered by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Applictions
Making the most of the GID spotlight events
Watch one or more of these events during the week before or after 9 June, including doing so interactively with friends and colleagues. Consider:
--What did you find the most interesting or helpful?
--List a few things that you would like to explore more.
--Was there anything you thought to be controversial or not helpful?
--List some practical applications for you/your settings.
Click HERE for more information and resources for the spotlight events.
Spread the word!
Recent Resources Added to the GID Website
In the "Integrity and Corruption in the Health Sector" section--homepage
1. Psychological Insights on integrity and corruption
--Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Behaviors (2020, 3rd edition). Caroll Tavris and Elliot Aronson. See the Table of Contents, Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 1 in the Amazon book preview.
--Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live with Themselves (2016). Albert Bandura. Moral disengagement refers to a variety of ways that people (individuals, groups, and social systems) selectively absolve themselves from self-sanctions and responsibility for their harmful behaviors Bandura identifies eight mechanisms of moral disengagement. You can read a summary HERE.
--The Social Psychology of Good and Evil (2016, 2nd edition). Edited by Arthur Miller. See the Table of Contents, Introduction-Overview, and Index in the Amazon book preview.
--Positive Psychology Resources. “Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.” Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Also see the related materials from the Authentic Happiness website including free self-assessments for wellbeing, character strengths-virtues, etc.
2. More Health Sector Resources
--The Ignored Pandemic (2019). Transparency International (TI). “Achieving the ambitious goal of universal health coverage will require more resources, and the better use of existing resources. At the same time, efforts to achieve universal health coverage are being significantly undermined by widespread corruption in frontline healthcare service delivery. Corruption in the health sector kills an estimated 140,000 children a year, fuels the global rise in anti-microbial resistance, and hinders the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Unless the most harmful forms of corruption are curbed, universal health coverage is unlikely to be achieved.”
--Reinforcing the Focus on Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability in National Health Policies, Strategies and Plans (2019). World Health Organization and UKaid. “Corruption causes significant losses of public money and may impede the ability of nations to make evidence-based policy choices and build consensus on the most effective approaches to transform health systems as part of the universal health coverage agenda. Corruption in the health sector has high costs both in terms of lives lost and resources wasted. Researchers estimate global average annual losses from health care fraud and error to be 6.19% of total expenditures, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars (Gee & Button, 2015). Corruption is also a significant predictor of child mortality and other negative health outcomes...”
--Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War (2021). Leonard Rubenstein. "Bringing together extensive research, firsthand experience, and compelling personal stories, Perilous Medicine offers a path forward, detailing the lessons the international community needs to learn to protect people already suffering in war and those on the front lines of health care in conflict-ridden places around the world.”
--The World We Want: Actions Towards a Sustainable, Fairer, and Healthier Society. A Short-film Trilogy produced by People’s Health Movement (2022).
>Film I. Building Equitable Health Systems. “The first film records the voices of community health workers and health care professionals and health rights activists from across the globe, on the learning’s from the COVID pandemic for the design of healthcare systems...”
>Film II. Rethinking the SDGs.… in the Pandemic Aftermath…“The second film shines a spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals - in what political economic context and what unequal power relations they arose and have continued to perpetuate...”
>Film III. Post-Pandemic Global Economics. Re-structure, Reform or just Re-vitalize. “The third film delves into the hegemonic, extractive and grossly unequal economic model, which prevails today...[and] underscores the need for a transformative shift...premised on fairness and justice that would ensure human survival...”
Ways for You to Get Involved
Participate in GID to support your work--and world!
--1. Review the GID Overview and website. Share your ideas with us about further developing GID.
--2. Send us core resources for the GID website in general or specifically related to the annual theme.
--3. Include a short description and logo/link for GID on your website.
--4. Spread the word about GID via social media and with your colleagues and networks.
--5. Join with others to promote integrity by endorsing GID as a group, organization, or network.
--6. Organize an event or webinar related to your organization's purpose as it connects to GID's emphases--do so around the time of GID on 9 June and/or UN Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December. We may then "spotlight" these events/webinars on the GID site to support your work and GID.
--7. Probe further into a few resources on the GID site that are relevant for you and your settings.
There is no "planetary health" without moral health!
