March 8, 2026
To mark International Women’s Day 2026, the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention has launched an online campaign to celebrate some of the incredible women worldwide who are helping to prevent deaths from pesticide self-poisoning.
From health and agriculture to environmental protection and academia, these women play diverse yet essential roles in addressing this important issue.
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- Dr Yin-Hui Leong is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the National Poison Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She leads research and national surveillance on acute pesticide poisoning in Malaysia, providing technical guidance to governments to support countries to develop national suicide prevention strategies.
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- Heshani Sothiraj-Eddleston is filmmaker at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention. She creates films with compassionate, people-focused stories to make the complex global issue of pesticide suicides accessible and relatable beyond policy and academia.
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- Beatrice Grenier is Consultant in pesticide management at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention and Food and Agriculture Organization (United Nations). She is also a Mental Health Advisor at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). She works with countries in the Americas helping them to develop and implement suicide prevention plans.
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- Dr Hellen Mbaya is an Agriculture and Regulatory Advisor at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention. She works in West Africa, working with regulators to identify highly hazardous pesticides and strengthen evidence-based policies to reduce pesticide poisoning and suicides.
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- Dr Francesca Mancini is South Asia Consultant at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention. She works with governments and research partners to identify high-risk pesticides and support practical, sustainable transitions that protect farmers’ health and livelihoods.
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- Dr Leah Utyasheva is Policy Director at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention. She leads on health data, human rights and policy work, including pesticide regulation reforms in Nepal to strengthen poisoning prevention globally.
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- Dr Sandhya Kranthi is an International Consultant at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention. She leads evidence reviews on hazardous pesticides to inform policy and regulatory decisions.
Find out more about each of their roles and why this work is important to them by clicking on their name.