Director General of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and a pharmacologist by training, Dr Akunyili has defied death threats while tackling corrupt practices in the manufacturing, import and export of drugs, cosmetics and food products. Since taking up her position in April 2001, Dr Akunyili has earned nationwide respect for her persistence in prosecuting illegal drug traders and in imposing strict standards on multinational companies. In particular, she has pursued manufacturers and importers of counterfeit drugs, deemed to be a leading cause of deaths by stroke and heart failure in Nigeria. Counterfeit drugs worth an estimated US$16 million have been confiscated and destroyed by Dr Akunyili and her staff, in the process saving the lives of thousands of innocent Nigerians.

Former Controller and Chief Auditor of Samoa, Sua Rimoni Ah Chong, faced serious threats when he exposed financial crime at the highest levels of government of Samoa in the South Pacific. From 1992 to 1995 Ah Chong refused to authorise illegal payments to Cabinet Ministers. When in 1994 his Annual Report to Parliament implicated six out of 13 ministers over improper activities and payments, the Cabinet appointed a Commission of Inquiry, not into the irregularities, but into the Chief Auditor himself. The committee's members included several of the persons criticised in his report. He was suspended in July 1995 and later, after the Constitution was amended for that purpose, dismissed. He is still fighting a legal battle against his suspension and dismissal.

Ana Hazare is a renowned anti-corruption campaigner in the Indian state of Maharashtra. At 64, he has been campaigning for more than 20 years to end corruption in government. Due to Hazare's efforts, two ministers in the ruling party in Maharashtra resigned over corruption and the government proceeded against corrupt officials in the forest department. Hazare and a team of lawyers now handle corruption cases brought to their attention by citizens.