Biomedical Research in Developing Countries - UNICRI

as passive recipients or, worse, as instruments for exploitation. Developing
countries, on the other hand, should concentrate all their efforts into strengthening
good governance, by combating corruption within their public administration and
by restoring trust in the judiciary and in the law enforcement powers as guardians
of social stability and security. Finally, the efforts of South - South partnerships
should be encouraged, as emerging market economies take the lead to sustainable
change in their area of influence 2 .
According to the 2008 Corruption Perception Index, measured by Transparency
International, the difference in perceived levels of corruption in rich and poor
countries remains as sharp as ever, with at the top, Denmark, new Zealand and
Sweden scoring 9.3 (lowest level of perceived corruption) and at the bottom, Iraq,
Myanmar (1.3) and Somalia scoring 1.0 (highest level of perceived corruption) 3 . In
the survey, low CPI scores indicate that public institutions are heavily compromised
and that social and political instability levels are high.
Table 1 - 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index
2 See for example, Brazil, that in 2006 announced a plan to launch a project to strengthen public-health research
in Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (http://www.scidev.net/en/news/brazil-to-boost-health-researchcapacity-in-angola.html
accessed on September 2008) and China’s Development Fund for Africa, approved in
2006, which will provide US$5 billion over the next five years to assist African countries to achieve the MDGs
through cooperation with China.
3 Transparency International, Corruption Perception Index 2008,
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2008/cpi2008 (Accessed October 2008)
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