Intersectional Work on Women’s Health and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights
Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng leads work on Women’s Health and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights within the Center for Global Health Policy & Politics from an intersectional, human rights-based framework that brings together research, advocacy and communications on medicine, law, and global health. Dr. Mofokeng was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health by the Human Rights Council at its forty-fourth session in July 2020.
Our work in this area builds off Dr. Mofokeng’s groundbreaking report to the United Nations General Assembly: Sexual And Reproductive Health Rights: Challenges And Opportunities During The COVID-19 Pandemic. The Center advances the findings of this report through strategic convenings, legal research, and evidence-based advocacy.
Medicine is a tool for the protection of human rights.
Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng
Recent Work:
Special event:
with Time Magazine
- “Freedom Dreaming: On “Emerging Frameworks of Health and Human Rights” in Health & Human Rights
- The Urgency of Now: A Right to Health in a Polycrisis World, Georgetown University
- “Many crises, one call to action: advancing gender equality in health in response to polycrises” The Lancet
- International Conference on Family Planning, where we partnered with conference organizers to build a communications platform. Read the conference report and check out “The Pulse with Dr. T“
- How can reproductive health services be equitable and accessible to young girls and women on the African Continent? Nigeria Health Watch
- “Sexual Health and Wellbeing through the Life Course: Ensuring Sexual Health, Rights and Pleasure for All” International Journal of Sexual Health
- “COVID-19: the turning point for gender equality” The Lancet
Sexual and Reproductive Justice
Advancing the protection and promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) for women, LGBTIQA+GNC, people with disabilities, and racialized people, particularly those at the intersection of these identities, by advocating for strategic litigation to counter anti-rights movements.
The Center for Global Health Policy & Politics works with legal scholars and international stakeholders to advance sexual and reproductive health rights around the globe by identifying strategic litigation that has been effective in anti-rights movements, especially against women and LGBTQIA+ people.
The Sexual and Reproductive Justice team tracks, analyses, and advocates for law and policy environments that are supportive of sexual and reproductive health rights. Strategic litigation and multi-level advocacy are crucial for countering anti-rights movements and ensuring access to SRHR, equity, and dignity for marginalized populations worldwide.
- Sexual And Reproductive Health Rights: Challenges And Opportunities During The COVID-19 Pandemic. A/76/172. New York: United Nations General Assembly, 2021.
- Racism And The Right To Health. A/77/197. New York: United Nations General Assembly, 2023.
- Violence And Its Impact On The Right To Health. A/HRC/50/28. Geneva: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022.
- Digital Innovation, Technologies And The Right To Health. A/HRC/53/65. Geneva: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2023.
- In the Supreme Court of the United States, No. 19-1392, Thomas E. Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, et al., Petitioners, v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, et al., Respondents.
- European Court of Human Rights, Case of Semenya v. Switzerland
