Allan Maleche: legal advocate for health justice and human rights
In 2007, Allan Maleche began working as a legal associate in Nairobi, Kenya. His first role was as research assistant on the case of a waitress tested for HIV without her consent by a hospital doctor who released her results to her employer, which resulted in the termination of her employment. The case compounded an interest in informed consent that had been building for the newly qualified Maleche during his undergraduate studies in law at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. This case highlighted “that there were so many legal and human rights issues, at a time when we had very few lawyers in Kenya who would touch work on HIV because HIV was still stigmatised, and not something people wanted to be associated with”, he explains.