Three women in Namibia are suing the state for allegedly being sterilised without their informed consent after being diagnosed as HIV positive.
The women say the doctors and nurses should have informed them properly about what was happening.
The rights group representing them, the Legal Assistance Centre, says it has documented 15 cases of alleged HIV sterilisation in hospitals since 2008.
A march in their support is taking place in Windhoek as the case begins.
The BBC's Frauke Jensen in the capital, Windhoek, says there are around 300 people on the march.
Most of them are women, and they have been chanting slogans such as: "My body, my womb, my right", and holding placards reading: "Why did you sterilise me?"
They are also planning a sit-in protest on Wednesday at two of the hospitals where the alleged sterilisations took place, our reporter says.
