When staff is underpaid : dealing with the individual coping strategies of health personnel

'Health sector workers respond to inadequate salaries and working conditions by developing various individual ‘‘coping strategies’’ - some, but not all, of which are of a predatory nature. The paper reviews what is known about these practices and their potential consequences (competition for time, brain drain and conflicts of interest)....[It] argues that...Governments will need to recognize the dimension of the phenomenon and systematically assess the consequences of policy initiatives on the situation and behaviour of the individuals that make up their workforce'