Tlaleng Mofokeng advances global health equity through medicine, advocacy, policy reform, education, and human rights.
Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng is a South African medical doctor, bestselling author, and internationally recognised advocate for health and human rights whose career spans medicine, policy, advocacy, education, and media. Born in QwaQwa, South Africa, she graduated with an MBChB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in 2007. She later obtained a postgraduate certificate in health economics and policy from the London School of Economics.
Tlaleng Mofokeng’s early career was marked by significant contributions to public health and clinical practice. She contributed to the Gauteng Health Department, specialising in paediatrics at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and various West Rand clinics.
Her commitment to public health extended to the Higher Education and Training HIV/AIDS Program, where she developed educational materials for HIV prevention. She also provided medical care across Johannesburg while working with International SOS and presented health documentaries for Al Jazeera.
Transitioning from clinical work to advocacy, Mofokeng became a prominent figure in sexual and reproductive justice. She chaired the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition of South Africa and served as the country lead for Global Doctors for Choice. Additionally, she established herself as the medical director of DISA, a women’s health clinic in Johannesburg.
Her activism has consistently centred on sexual and reproductive health, safe and legal abortion, HIV care, maternal and neonatal health, youth-friendly services, gender equality, and the decriminalisation of sex work. She has also engaged in policy advocacy, expert testimony in gender-based violence cases, and legislative reform, amplifying the voices of marginalised groups.
Her global influence expanded dramatically in July 2020, when the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed her as the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, making her the first African woman to hold the position. In this role, she has presented landmark reports to the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council that address systemic barriers to healthcare through an intersectional, rights-based lens.
In 2023, she published a report on racism and health, analysing how structural discrimination undermines the dignity and health outcomes of Black people, indigenous communities, migrants, and minorities, while calling for legal frameworks, reparations, and anti-racism measures.
That same year, she released a report on food and nutrition, emphasising the state’s duty to regulate unhealthy diets, enforce marketing restrictions, and strengthen governance of food systems as part of the right to health. In 2025, her fifth report highlighted the role of health and care workers as defenders of rights, calling for better protection, fair remuneration, and recognition of their role in crisis contexts such as conflict zones like Gaza.
Across all her work, she stresses universal access, civil society engagement, and community participation as central to equitable healthcare systems.
Beyond the UN, Mofokeng is a distinguished lecturer at Georgetown University, a private university in Washington, D.C., United States. She is also a co-chair of the O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination, and Global Health. She serves on boards including the Safe Abortion Action Fund, the Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing, Accountability International, and the Soul City Institute for Social Justice. She previously served as Commissioner for Gender Equality in South Africa and remains active in strategic litigation and global health advocacy.
Tlaleng Mofokeng is a prominent voice in public discourse, media, and writing. In 2021, she published Dr. T: A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure, a book that redefined sexual health, challenged societal stigmas surrounding sexuality, and educated a global audience. Her significant contributions have been recognised with several accolades, including being named to the BBC 100 Women list in 2021 and receiving the Global Excellence Award by Clinix in 2023. In 2024, Forbes Africa also listed her among its Influential Women.
