The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed, host of the Alliance Lift, speaks with Professor Asha George, the South African Research Chair in Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change at the University of the Western Cape. A globally recognized qualitative researcher, Professor George examines the interface between communities, health workers and health systems through lenses of governance, gender and human rights. She also serves as the Alliance’s 2025 Thinker in Residence, supporting reflection on how the field of health policy and systems research can engage more intentionally with gender equality.

Idil spoke with Asha about how early work shaped by global commitments on women’s rights influenced her approach to health systems, what she learned from working within her own health system in India and why she believes health workers’ lived realities must be more central to health systems research and practice today.

Professor George also reflects on the importance of listening to voices that are often marginalized, addressing silences that have become normalized within health systems and building alliances that connect evidence to action.