Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics welcomes leading human rights lawyer Allan Achesa Maleche as Senior Scholar
13 FEBRUARY WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy & Politics is pleased to announce that Allan Achesa Maleche has joined the Center as a Senior Scholar.
A Kenyan human rights lawyer and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Allan brings more than fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of health, human rights, law, and governance. He is the Executive Director of the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN), where he has led pioneering rights-based legal and policy work to improve access to health care and justice for communities that are often marginalized and excluded.
Dr. Matthew M. Kavanagh, Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Policy & Politics said: “Allan is one of the most respected and effective human rights advocates in global health today. His work combines legal rigor, deep engagement with affected communities, and a clear-eyed understanding of how governance and accountability shape health outcomes. We are delighted to welcome him to the Center.”
Allan’s work is grounded in close collaboration with affected communities, particularly people living with HIV and tuberculosis, women and girls, and other populations facing structural barriers to health care and justice. His approach integrates strategic litigation, community legal empowerment, participatory research, and policy advocacy, ensuring that lived experience informs legal reform, accountability, and institutional practice within health systems.
He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Gender Advisory Panel of the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) at the World Health Organization, contributing to global guidance on gender equality, rights, and ethics in sexual and reproductive health research and policy. He has also served as Co-Chair of the UNAIDS Human Rights Reference Group and is a member of the International AIDS Society–Lancet Commission on Health and Human Rights.
Allan has held senior governance roles within global health financing and accountability structures, including as a Board Member of the Developing Country NGO Delegation to the Global Fund Board, where he also served as an Alternate Board Member and as a member of the Audit and Finance Committee.
In Kenya, Allan has played a leading role in landmark strategic litigation advancing health-related human rights. This includes Daniel Ng’etich and Others v. The Honourable Attorney General and Others, a precedent-setting case that successfully challenged the incarceration of people with tuberculosis as a public health measure.
He has also been centrally involved in cases addressing the forced and coerced sterilization of women living with HIV, contributing to legal and policy reforms that strengthen informed consent, accountability, and rights-based standards in health care. Under his leadership, KELIN conducted Kenya’s first Tuberculosis Legal Environment Assessment in 2018, which continues to inform national and regional advocacy and law reform.
Allan is the inaugural Belén Ríos Global Health and Human Rights Scholar and holds an L.L.M. in Global Health Law from Georgetown University. Through his work with the Center, he will contribute to research, teaching, and thought leadership on health and human rights, accountability, and legal reform, supporting the Center’s mission to strengthen equitable and rights-based global health governance.
Allan Maleche, Senior Scholar at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics said: “I am honored to join the Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics. I am looking forward to working with the Center to advance research and policy that centres human rights, strengthens community voice, and holds institutions to account.”