Kgosi Letlape
Dr Kgosi Letlape is an ophthalmologist and health care leader from South Africa. He is the current President of the Health Professions Council of South Africa. He founded the African Medical Association in 2006, and is former chairman of the South African Medical Association, past president of the World Medical Association and former Executive Director of the Tshepang Trust. He also serves as a member of The Global Hygiene Council.
Letlape made history by becoming the first black person to qualify as an ophthalmologist in South Africa during the apartheid years, and was the first black person to be elected as WMA President. His interest in health care for South Africans sees him participating in various health committees and task teams.
Urged by President Nelson Mandela, he embarked on a then ambitious project towards providing access to antiretroviral treatment to HIV positive patients in 2003. Together with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the South African Medical Association, he established Tshepang Trust, which facilitated the treatment of HIV positive patients when none was provided by the government of the time.
