Sisonke Msimang, interview, Perth, WA, Australia, 2022

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Description

Sisonke Msimang, Boorloo (i.e. Perth), Western Australia, Australia, 2022 June 28, oral history interview, by Asna Tabassum, Los Angeles, California, USA. The inteview was conducted over the Internet (Zoom) as part of the Health and Human Rights Oral History Project.

Sisonke Msimang is an accomplished activist, political scientist, and writer whose books include Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home (2017) and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela (2018). In her oral history, she recounts her early life growing up as the child of exiled South African freedom fighters, and how that informed her future work in HIV activism, with the United Nations, and later as the HIV/AIDS program manager and executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). Msimang discusses the birth of the Treatment Action Campaign, the Mbeki government, and other inflection points in HIV activism and gender justice in South Africa, also drawing parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Metadata

Core Title Sisonke Msimang, interview, Perth, WA, Australia, 2022

Creator Msimang, Sisonke (interviewee)

Contributor Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (provenance), Tabassum, Asna (interviewer)

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Date Created 2022-06-28

Coverage Temporal 1998/2012

Place Name Africa (continents), Australia (continents), Australia (countries), Botswana (countries), Eswatini (countries), Lesotho (countries), Malawi (countries), Mozambique (countries), Namibia (countries), Oceania (regions), South Africa (countries), Southern Africa (regions), sub-Saharan Africa (regions), USA (countries), Western Australia (states), Zambia (countries)

Subject COVID-19 (Disease) (lcsh), Dlamini, Gugu (personal name), Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (corporate name), Mabele, Prudence (personal name), Mandela, Nelson, 1918-2013 (personal name), Msimang, Sisonke (personal name), Musatah, Tawanda (personal name), Open Society Foundations (corporate name), Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (corporate name), Treatment Action Campaign (corporate name)

Tags access to medicines,Apartheid,decolonization,gender equality,HIV/AIDS,human rights,key populations,law and health,OAI-PMH Harvest,philanthropy,Public health

Format Interviews (aat), oral histories (literary works) (aat)

Language English

Source 20220824-hhrohp-batch2 (batch), Health and Human Rights Oral History Project (collection), University of Southern California (contributing entity)

Identifier hhrohp-20220628-msimangsisonke (filename)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

Unique identifier UC1STO1699787

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/hhrohp-oUC1STO1699787

Legacy Identifier hhrohp-20220628-msimangsisonke

Rights USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health

Access Conditions Please credit: The Health and Human Rights Oral History Project; and, USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health

Repository Name USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health

Repository Location 1845 North Soto Street, Los Angeles, California, USA; 323-442-7233

Repository Email global.health@usc.edu

Inherited Values

Title The Health and Human Rights Oral History Project

Description The Health and Human Rights Oral History Project (HHROHP) is a growing archive of video testimonies from diverse figures in the health and human rights movement. The Project fills a critical gap in the modern history of public health by providing an inside view of the decisions, discussions, and dynamics behind some of the most impactful health and rights interventions of the past several decades. A product of the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (USC IIGH), the inaugural archive of 30 oral histories is available for research and educational purposes both through the USC IIGH website and here in the permanent digital archives of the USC Digital Library.

This first phase of the HHROHP, launched in early 2022, comprises 30 long-form oral histories from former staff and grantees of the the Open Society Foundations’ Public Health Program (PHP), one of the many entities to apply an international human rights framework to policy and practice in public health, as well as other key pioneers in the field of health and human rights. From 1993-2021, the PHP catalyzed and funded some of the most transformative trends in the health and rights field, from the development of harm reduction programs in the former Soviet Union, to the globalization of palliative care, to the development of medical professionals among the Roma minority in Europe. The PHP’s work reflected an understanding of public health as a political process, not just a biomedical one, offering critical lessons for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health challenges.

Each interview was conducted by a USC student with the guidance of USC faculty and oral history experts. Our vision is to create a dynamic archive that continues to grow as other organizations, institutes, and individuals are inspired to add their own oral histories that deepen our collective understanding of global public health.

Phase I of the HHROHP is led by a partnership between three global leaders in health and human rights, philanthropy, and oral history. The partnership is led by the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH), which works across disciplines to address health-related disparities and inequalities by expanding the evidence base about what works to advance global health, training the next generation of global health leaders, and informing public policy to more effectively contribute to global health outcomes. IIGH is responsible for identifying interview participants, background research, carrying out interviews, producing interview videos and transcripts, and publicizing findings.

Support

Financial support, written source material, and strategic input for the HHROHP is provided by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which works globally to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Founded by George Soros, OSF gives thousands of grants each year to groups and individuals, through a unique network that is guided by local voices and global expertise.