Director Kazatchkine Resigns From The Global Fund

By Rachel Marusak Hermann for Intellectual Property Watch

The Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Michel Kazatchkine, has announced that he would step down by 16 March in a letter published on the Fund’s website.

The resignation letter is here.

Kazatchkine said that he could not continue as director after a decision made by the Board in November to appoint a General Manager to oversee the Consolidated Transformational Plan and report directly to the Board. “While I remain fully committed to the Global Fund and its mission, I have concluded that I should not continue as Executive Director in these circumstances.”

The Global Fund also announced on 24 January that Gabriel Jaramillo has been appointed to the General Manager role. Born in Colombia, the Brazilian national is a former chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bank and was a member of the high-level, independent Panel that reviewed the Global Fund’s fiduciary controls and oversight mechanism. His 12-month term begins 1 February. The appointment press release is here.

The announcement comes at the time of a scandal relating to the Fund brewing in the French press involving an investment by the Fund in that country, but the Fund’s Board president has stated that it is not connected to Kazatchkine. A French article on the subject is here.

Meanwhile, the world’s largest backer of national programmes to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria announced last December that it would not undertake any new grants or funding until 2014.