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Mbali-Pfeiffer ShongweIn the news
Kwanele Asante in New York in September 2025, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly as a person with lived experience of noncommunicable diseases. “The glasses still come out when I speak on big platforms,” she jokes. Photo: Mia Malan
PUBLIC HEALTH

For 20 years, Kwanele Asante told health systems to listen to patients. Then the UN gave her the mic

South African lawyer and bioethicist Kwanele Asante transformed her personal health challenges with breast cancer and chronic illness into decades of fierce advocacy for people…

  • Sean Christie
19 min read