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Pharmaceutical sector corruption undermines patient access to medicines by diverting public funds for private gain and exacerbating health inequities. This paper presents an analysis of UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) compliance in seven countries and examines how full UNCAC adoption may reduce corruption risks within four key pharmaceutical decision-making points: product approval, formulary selection, procurement, and dispensing. Countries were selected based on their participation in the Medicines Transparency Alliance and the WHO Good Governance for Medicines Programme. Each country’s domestic anti-corruption laws and policies were catalogued and analysed to evaluate their implementation of select UNCAC Articles relevant to the pharmaceutical sector. Countries displayed high compliance with UNCAC provisions on procurement and the recognition of most public sector corruption offences. However, several countries do not penalise private sector bribery or provide statutory protection to whistleblowers or witnesses in corruption proceedings, suggesting that private sector pharmaceutical dispensing may be a decision-making point particularly vulnerable to corruption. Fully implementing the UNCAC is a meaningful first step that countries can take reduce pharmaceutical sector corruption. However, without broader commitment to cultures of transparency and institutional integrity, corruption legislation alone is likely insufficient to ensure long-term, sustainable pharmaceutical sector good governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Random drug testing in schools has been part of Philippine policies since the 2000s. • During Duterte's drug war, it was implemented and scaled up by education agencies. • It has impacted students by placing them at risk of stigma and fatal violence. • It has impacted schools by necessitating human and financial resources. • Drug testing in schools has political and social efficacy amid a drug-free paradigm. With the stated aims of promoting "drug-free" campuses and "instilling in the minds of students" that drugs are harmful, drug testing in schools has been a feature of the Philippines' punitive drug regime for two decades, gaining prominence during the Duterte administration's war on drugs (2016-2022). Drawing on key informant interviews and a desk review of news articles and official documents, this paper presents a historical overview of this policy as well as its impacts on students, educational institutions, and Philippine society. The paper finds that the group most affected by drug testing in schools are the students themselves, who are placed at risk of discrimination and alienation. Schools are also affected by the policy, as it requires expending their human and financial resources. More broadly, the policy perpetuates longstanding popular notions on drugs, children, and the overall idea that individuals carry the "burden of proof" to demonstrate their worthiness for societal inclusion. Drug testing in Philippine schools is ineffective and misguided in its objectives, but it has received widespread support because of its social and political efficacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]