Health Equity in South Africa

Building a healthier, more equal South Africa.

BASED AT TEKANO

DUDUZILE (DUDU) DLAMINI

Advocacy manager for Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force; founder of Mothers for the Future Pretoria, South Africa

MICHELLE BROTHERTON

Advocate, Rhodes University Makana, South Africa

NTOMBIZANELE (ZANELE) FIGLAN

Principal environmental health practitioner, City of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

THANIA GOPAL

Communications officer, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

Fighting for the decriminalization of sex work. Specializing as an advocate in international human rights, health rights and health care systems. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy. Pursuing a health activism agenda to change people’s quality of life for the better. Exploring the role of the media in influencing and developing more equitable and socially just health systems.

AMY GREEN

Editor, Health-e News Johannesburg, South Africa

Supplying content to mainstream media so that it reflects marginalized voices usually inaccessible to traditional media houses, unlike Health-e News.

NIKKI GREEN (NEE VERMEULEN)

Coordinator for communitycentered programs, Centre for Social Development, Rhodes University Cape Town, South Africa

Reimagining the ways in which corporate and NGO spaces can be connected and developed to enhance access to resources and opportunities for social change.

THAMSANQA HAMILTON HUKWE

Chairperson, Abahlali Base Freedom Park Johannesburg, South Africa

KHULULWA JAMPO

Mother Mentor Programme, Enable Ngqeleni, South Africa

Organizing and mobilizing communities in the southern region of Johannesburg around land, housing and other socioeconomic issues. Providing support, counseling and basic health education to pregnant women, with a focus on chronic treatment adherence, mostly related to HIV and AIDS.

LANCE LOUSKIETER

Ph.D. candidate; researcher and educator, Health Policy and Systems Research Division, University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

TRACEY MALAWANA

Deputy general secretary, Equal Education Tembisa, South Africa

NOMATHAMSANQA (THAMI) MNGXEKEZA

Operations manager, Kozi Foundation Cape Town, South Africa

SHANNON MORGAN

Master’s graduate in global mental health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King’s College London London, United Kingdom

Advocating for health systems’ responsiveness, and championing sexual and reproductive justice for sex workers and queer persons through influencing policy and implementation. Advocating for social justice and human rights through education and policy change/ introduction, grassroots organizing and mobilization, building alliances and community resilience. Providing support and guidance to women-led, not-for-profit organizations on good governance and best financial management practices. Advocating for parental involvement in sexual and reproductive health education. Exploring the field of global mental health, with a special interest in learning about the integration of mental health into primary care.

KODWA MPEPHO

Director, Women and Girls Leadership Foundation Pretoria, South Africa

SIBONGILE MTUNGWA

Director, Women’s Leadership and Training Programme Underberg, South Africa

Promoting access to sexual and reproductive health and justice for girls and women in rural and peri-urban areas through advocacy and strengthening leadership skills. Strengthening girls’ and women’s leadership skills, so they use their agency to dismantle the patriarchal and structural norms and systems that oppress them.

SHEHNAZ MUNSHI

Research project manager, Sheiham/Wits Family Programme on Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa

Advocating for affordable and accessible health for all by engaging in research; intersectional feminist and decolonial praxis; and, social mobilization to reform health systems and policy.

BERNARD MUTSAGO

Nutritionist, public health researcher and activist, South African Medical Association Johannesburg, South Africa

Advocating for a South Africa where primary health care takes center stage and all South Africans have access to affordable, equitable quality health care.

LINDI MZANKOMO

Senior budget analyst, Public Finance, National Treasury (Department of Finance) Pretoria, South Africa

NOLUTHANDO NDLOVU

Researcher, Health Systems Trust Durban, South Africa

TINASHE T. NJANJI

Coordinator, People’s Health Movement South Africa Cape Town, South Africa

MAFOKO PHOMANE

Project specialist, Panagora Group Johannesburg, South Africa

Developing social assistance models, budgets and policy advancements for improved health and education outcomes for the poor. Conducting evidence-based research that contributes to policy-strengthening health systems in South Africa, using predominantly quantitative data to address health equity. Promoting socioeconomic justice for all, including addressing social determinants for health. Providing novel and integrated solutions in health for communities in remote places, in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning and technical support services for USAID/ South Africa’s Health Office.

KENTSE RADEBE

Project manager, Systems Innovation, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Cape Town, South Africa

WENDY SOMLAVI

Founder, Wheely in a Wheelie Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa

LENA STOFILE

Environmental health manager, City of Cape Town Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa

CARINA TRUYTS

Lecturer in social anthropology, Sol Plaatje University Kimberley, South Africa

Identifying the processes and levers that lead to social innovation across various sectors, with a focus on health and mental health in the Global South. Promoting recycling in townships. Advancing policies and programs to reduce chemical and other environmental exposures in air, water, soil and food to protect people and provide communities with healthier environments. Developing new anthropology courses and program, based on her nourishment MA research drawing on public health, developmental origins of health and disease, and epigenetic findings.

BULELA VAVA

Interim national president, Public Oral Health Forum (POHF) South Africa

Building an activist oral health workforce with a focus on grassroots community and peer-to-peer engagement to realize, preserve and protect society’s right to quality oral health services.

LUQMAN YESUFU

Africa coordinator, Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Initiative, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Edmonton, Canada

Developing strategies to address the health sector’s climate footprint through research, training and the implementation of sustainable health care practices in Africa. Building relationships and developing policies to address environmental health issues.

CHALEEN ARENDSE

Student, Hugenote College Cape Town, South Africa

CYAN BROWN

Founder, TuksRes Women in Leadership Academy Johannesburg, South Africa

LUNGILE QUINY DUBE

Master’s student, Nelson Mandela University Port Elizabeth, South Africa

SIBUSISO FIHLANI

Drama therapist, Drama for Life Johannesburg, South Afria

Advancing the rights and improving the lives of young people and women living on farms, through the personal, experiential knowledge of growing up on a farm. Addressing social injustices and inequalities through a human rights context. Leading efforts to build a healthier, more sustainable society through combing innovation and technology with social justice causes, toward the uplift and empowerment of young women in South Africa. Contributing to the development of educational approaches that are empowering and for liberation purposes by understanding gendered dimensions of alternative forms of work. Using theater and drama therapy with patients to help them overcome emotional trauma and addiction; and working with young men helping them deal with their emotions to become better fathers.

AMANDA PHAPHAMA FONONDA

Assistant program manager, TB and HIV Care Durban, South Africa

ATHOLL KLEINHANS

Lecturer, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Pretoria, South Africa

HASEENA MAJID

Public health project consultant, Usawa Projects for Equity in Health and Education Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

PATRICK MDELETSHE

Field researcher, SECTION27 Khayelitsha, South Africa

Addressing health inequities by ensuring the representation of marginalized and vulnerable communities in health reform.

Advocating for equality in health and education for sexual and gender minority groups. Developing strategies to address the backlog of patients requiring essential health services in the public sector in uMgungundlovu, KwaZulu-Natal, focusing specifically on cataract surgery services and universal eye health. Working with civil society to address inequalities and striving for social justice for all. Mobilizing communities and building their voice through capacity building. Building civil society for health system strengthening.

NTEBALENG MORAKE

Curriculum and education coordinator, Social Justice Coalition Cape Town, South Africa

ERIC MOTAU

Country director, REPSSI Johannesburg, South Africa

SIPAMANDLA MPIKELELI

Development and CSI manager, South African Sugar Association Durban, South Africa

ANDILE MTHOMBENI

Project manager, Plus 94 Research Johannesburg, South Africa

Building a South Africa that addresses the injustices of the past while seeking alternatives for a just and equal society. Advocating for access to community-based mental health care and treatment services in underserved communities. Addressing bottlenecks in the health system with design strategies that enhance service delivery. Advancing rural development by supporting young people to participate in placements throughout the sugar cane value chain. Assisting the South African National Aids Council as trustees member; also appointed as a student representative in the Ministerial Technical Task Team for Sexual & GenderBased Violence in Institutions of Higher Learning.

BAYANDA NDUMISO

Curriculum developer, Equal Education Cape Town, South Africa

SAMSON PHAKATHI

Senior field officer, The Endangered Wildlife Trust Mpophomeni, South Africa

VINKEY SIBUYI

Social worker, Epilepsy South Africa Acornhoek, South Africa

ANELE SIGCAU

Pharmacist, Department of Health East London, South Africa

Driving forward responses to socio-economic, health and educational inequalities within South Africa and the continent at large. Mobilizing communities in rural South Africa to engage with conservation projects that provide environmentally friendly alternative livelihoods. Advocating for the right to education for children with learning impairments. Collaborating with other stakeholders to develop learning tools that could be used to accommodate their learning needs. Ensuring the availability of medicines and medical devices, and that the dispensing of medicine and patient care is carried out properly.

SYLVIA SIYO

Business case development manager, Transnet Port Terminals Durban, South Africa

HARSHA SOMAROO

Public health specialist lecturer, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa

RENÉ SPARKS

RTCQI/CLI provincial project coordinator, SEAD (Strategic Evaluation, Advisory & Development Consulting Ltd.) Cape Town, South Africa

KANYISA BOOI

Founder and campaign manager, Matriarch & Sons Johannesburg, South Africa

Training, mentoring and inspiring women and girls from underprivileged communities to succeed in industry. Advancing health equity as a public health medicine specialist. Supporting HIV prevention programs for key and vulnerable populations in South Africa. Active in numerous civil society roles, and passionate about access to quality health services. Creating and executing health communications campaigns and strategies that are engaging through deploying a fusion of pop culture and politics.

RAZIA VALLIE

Program manager, Western Cape Health Department Cape Town, South Africa

ERNA VAN DER WESTHUIZEN

Impact and learning manager Wynberg, South Africa

GANZAMUNGU ZIHINDULA

Independent consultant in global public health epidemiology; founder, Healthy Rural Societies (HRS) Mtubatuba, South Africa

BERTHA CHIGUVARE

Independant consultant, Freedom House; founding director, Vumbanani Peacebuilding Makhado, South Africa

Developing and supporting equitable TB and HIV protection programs. Leading efforts to build ecosystems for inclusion for people with disabilities, their families and service providers. Developing a comprehensive, home-based care model for older people based in rural areas to prevent noncommunicable diseases and other degenerative diseases. Advancing humanitarian work, with more than ten years of experience in program management, community development and human rights activism.

NWABISA DLOVA

Social worker, Masimanyane Women’s Rights International East London, South Africa

THATO HELMUT MATHABATHE

Operations manager, Pharmacy Dispensing Units (PDU), Right-ePharmacy (ReP) Germiston, South Africa

ZIMBINI MADIKIZA

Project assistant, Rural Health Advocacy Project Mthatha, South Africa

NONKULULEKO (NKULI) MBULI

Communications practitioner, independent consultant Johannesburg, South Africa

Advocating for the rights of women, social justice and sexual reproductive health, rooted in intersectional PanAfrican feminism. Contributing toward greater access to medicines using pharmacy innovation and technology. Equipping the youth with skills and knowledge of realizing their potential toward enhancing their agency to advocate for improved and effective access of health care services. Using media and communications as a tool to mentor and train women and children.

IVANA MERCKEL

Coordinator Johannesburg, South Africa

INNOCENTIA MGIJIMA

Human rights lawyer Pretoria, South Africa

NOMFUNDO MKHABA

Project developer, Waste for Change Durban, South Africa

MPHO MOGAPI

Cluster manager, Soul City Institute for Social Justice Krugersdorp, South Africa

Aiming to provide comprehensive and holistic health education that is accessible and promotes community participation. Advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa. Teaching leadership, gender equity and enviromental sustainability. Advocating for the rights of young women and girls.

TSHEPO MOKHADI

Environmental health practitioner, Bongani Regional Hospital Odendaalsrus, South Africa

LEBO MOLETE

Founding member, PHELA Foundation Johannesburg, South Africa

TLAMELO MOTHUDI

Health researcher, Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) Grahamstown, South Africa

NTOMBOHLANGA MQUSHULU

Advocacy manager, Soul City Institute for Social Justice Roodepoort, South Africa

Implementing sustainable green initiatives in hospitals, aimed at reducing the carbon footprint and the use of harmful chemicals; and promoting strategies that reduce waste throughout the health sector. Facilitating the inclusion of patients as a prominent stakeholder group in the development and implementation of health services and strategic health policies. Advancing health equity, with a particular interest in public interest law, health research, public resource management and social accountability monitoring. Mentoring youth leaders across South Africa.

ALDRIDGE MUNYORO

Ph.D. candidate, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa

JUDIAC RANAPE

Comprehensive health nurse, Department of Health Cape Town, South Africa

AZEEZA RANGUNWALA

Medical scientist, Gauteng Department of Health Pretoria, South Africa

KUVASHNA SINGH

Pharmacist KwaZulu, South Africa

Building an inclusive society where people living at the margins of society can participate equally and benefit from the social and economic pipeline. Advocating within civil society organizations for improvements in the health of marginalized communities. Building societies that are free from the shackles of sexism, racism, homophobia, islamophobia, agism and fatphobia. Working toward improving health care in the public sector.

BIBI-AISHA WADVALLA

Freelance journalist Johannesburg, South Africa

Advocating for health equity, addressing the social and structural determinants of health, and endorsing the media as an essential pillar of public health.