Professor Michel Kazatchkine appointed to a second term as Executive Director of the Global Fund
11 January 2011
Geneva, 11 January 2011 – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has re-appointed Professor Michel Kazatchkine as Executive Director for a further three-year-term. Professor Kazatchkine, an acclaimed physician and global health expert, was first appointed Executive Director in February 2007. In recognition of his successful leadership of the Global Fund, his mandate has now been renewed until March 2014.
“I congratulate Professor Kazatchkine on his reappointment as Executive Director”, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Chair of the Board of the Global Fund and the Minister of Health of Ethiopia. “He has led the Global Fund through a period of rapid growth that has enabled many countries to make major progress towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The Board looks forward to working with him in the coming years as we continue our global effort to fight these major epidemics”.
Professor Kazatchkine’s second term will coincide with the final push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, requiring even greater health investments in a difficult economic climate.
“The Global Fund has saved millions of lives and helped to build health systems around the world”, said Professor Kazatchkine. “It has been a privilege to serve as its Executive Director for the last three years, a period in which many countries have made such strong progress against AIDS, TB and malaria that several of the MDG targets are now within reach”, he said. “In the next three years, I will work to ensure that the Global Fund is as efficient and effective as possible. I want the Fund to remain a leading global partnership for health and development that contributes strongly to reducing inequities between the rich and the poor”.
A physician, scientist and diplomat, Prof. Kazatchkine has treated people with AIDS for more than 20 years, led the world’s second-largest AIDS research agency and was France's Ambassador for HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases. Before assuming the position of Executive Director in 2007, he had also served as Vice-Chair of the Global Fund Board and as the first Chair of the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel, which assesses the quality of grant proposals.
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become a leading force in the fight against the three diseases. With approved funding of US$21.7 billion for 140 countries, it is the main international financier for the three diseases, supporting more than half of those on antiretroviral treatment globally and providing around two-thirds of international funding for tuberculosis and malaria.