Dr. Puleng Relebohile Letsie

Dr. Puleng Relebohile Letsie serves on the Global Advisory Board of the Centre for Development in Social Justice (CDSJ) under the Continental and Global Positioning Portfolio and brings more than 24 years of distinguished experience in public health, human rights, gender equality, HIV, sexual and reproductive health and rights, policy development, and strategic leadership across Southern Africa.

She has held senior leadership, advisory, and technical roles within the United Nations system including UNAIDS, UNFPA, and UNDP, as well as in national and regional civil society organisations and the Government of Lesotho. From September 2024 to September 2025, she served as Officer in Charge of the UNAIDS Country Office in Namibia, providing strategic and operational leadership, programme and financial oversight, and representing UNAIDS and the wider UN system in key national platforms including the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism.

She served as Adviser for Science, Systems and Services for All at UNAIDS from 2021 to 2025, and as Regional Coordinator for Menstrual Health Management and Youth Participation at UNFPA's East and Southern Africa Regional Office from 2018 to 2021. She has also served as an Equity, Human Rights and Gender Expert on the Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and as a Technical Review Group member of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

Her career further includes senior positions with Anova Health Institute, Management Sciences for Health, the Embassy of Ireland, the Southern African AIDS Trust, UNDP, CARE Lesotho-South Africa, and the National AIDS Prevention and Control Programme in Lesotho. She has led major regional and multi-country initiatives on adolescent health, menstrual health, women's empowerment, differentiated care models, and gender-transformative health systems strengthening.

At CDSJ, she brings exceptional regional influence, institutional credibility, and strategic leadership to strengthen the organisation's continental and global positioning, helping to expand its visibility, shape its external voice, and position it as a credible African institution engaged in high-level social justice, health, and development discourse.