Ministry of Health launches social campaign "Bribery is a bad habit"
The Ministry of Health (MoH) is launching a social campaign "Bribery is a harmful habit", which will invite the public to raise awareness and discuss bribery as a harmful habit, such as smoking, scrounging or nail biting. Various national institutions will contribute to the social campaign and well-known public figures will speak on their social media accounts.
The social campaign will aim to raise public awareness of the problem of entrenched perceived corruption in the Lithuanian healthcare sector and to raise people's awareness and responsibility.
"Often the solution to big problems starts with personal choices. Every action we take - whether it is refusing a bribe or contributing to a more transparent health system - builds trust in healthcare services. I invite everyone to contribute to this common goal," said Minister of Health Aurimas Pečkauskas.
The creative idea of the social campaign "Bribery is a harmful habit" was developed by the Dear problem agency. According to Lina Vigraitė, head of the agency, the creative solution was based on a message without contradiction, and it was important for the whole team to open the way for reflection and discussion.
"We have equated bribery with habits, because corruption and bribery are fundamentally bad habits in society. And society is each one of us with better or worse habits. Like smoking, constant 'scrounging' or nail biting. We all have our challenges, and change starts when we take responsibility and each of us tries to change. Equating bribery with a bad habit has helped us to get to the heart of a major national problem, making it surmountable and solvable by each person's small contribution," shares L. Vigraitė.
The majority of the country's population (63%) believes that bribes help solve problems in general, while 52% of people name medical institutions as the most corrupt institutions in Lithuania. This data was provided by the survey "Corruption Map of Lithuania 2022/2023", initiated by the Special Investigation Service (STT) and conducted by the Vilmorus Centre for Public Opinion and Market Research between December 2022 and March 2023.
The lack of anti-corruption awareness in Lithuanian society is also reflected in the October 2023 report of the European Anti-Corruption Council. A survey initiated by SAM and conducted by Spinter Research in October. The survey revealed that 37% of the country's population would not report cases of bribery to anyone; 43% would report bribery or corruption, but only if they knew they would not be harmed; and 20% would report it anyway if they noticed bribery in a medical institution.
This social campaign is part of the plan to implement the National Anti-Corruption Agenda 2022-2033 and the Corruption Prevention Plan 2023-2025. In order to implement the objectives of the Plan - to shape public anti-corruption attitudes, develop anti-corruption competences and strengthen the anti-corruption awareness of the population - a number of measures have been envisaged, including this social campaign organised by the SAM, entitled "Bribery is a harmful habit".
SAM encourages people not to accept either corruption or bribery, and if the head of a medical institution or the persons in charge do not react, to contact the STT on the general helpline number 8 5 266 3333, or by e-mail [email protected], or the police on the general emergency number 112. Alternatively, you can contact the SAM's responsible persons on the toll-free helpline 8 800 66004 or by e-mail [email protected].