Tekano-Atholl_Kleinhans

Atholl Kleinhans

One of the major problems that I have encountered in my work is the slow pace of change from society to accept sexually and gender diverse communities because of various cultural and religious factors. This is very prevalent in the health care system where doctors and nurses discriminate against LGBTI people.

This is the reason why I have devoted my life to train medical professionals to become culturally competent and provide services to LGBTI people that will lead to a reduction in health and health care disparities among these communities. I teach health systems and policy in the postgraduate programme and also conduct social justice research.

Over the last 15 years I have been devoted to social justice issues which started with work in the HIV/AIDS field.

 Over the last five years I have moved towards advocating for the improvement of access to health care for all sexual minority, gender and sexually diverse groups.  I do research and teach philosophy which is specifically aimed at raising awareness around these important matters.  I am involved in setting up the student LGBTI group at SMU and also work very closely with the community in supporting and building the capacity of civil society organizations involve in social justice work.