PHA-Exchange> Global Fund: Board stymied on picking new AIDS, TB chief

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from Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au> -----
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/11/02/board_stymied
_on_picking_new_aids_tb_chief/

Board stymied on picking new AIDS, TB chief

By John Donnelly, Globe Staff  |  November 2, 2006

WASHINGTON --The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will 
launch a new search for an 
executive director after board members failed to agree on two finalists in 
marathon meetings this 
week in Guatemala City.

The decision, reached late Wednesday, means that the organization will likely 
not have a new leader 
for several more months, perhaps not until the board's next scheduled meeting 
in April, officials 
said. The contract of the fund's current director, Richard Feachem, ends in 
March.

The international fund, which has distributed several billion dollars to fight 
the three infectious 
diseases, faces several critical issues in the coming months, including 
securing additional funding 
and trying to improve poorly performing grants.

Closed discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday narrowed the field to two 
candidates -- Michel Sidibe of 
Mali, a senior official at UNAIDS, and Michel Kazatchkine, France's HIV/AIDS 
ambassador, according 
to participants who asked not to be identified.

Under the board's rules, the executive director must win support of seven of 10 
members from 
developed countries as well as seven of 10 members from developing nations. 
Sidibe won support from 
developing countries, but could not secure the necessary votes from rich 
nations, although the 
United States backed him, participants said. And Kazatchkine received enough 
support from the rich 
countries, but not enough from developing nations, they said.

Three others earlier in the running were Hilde Johnson, Norway's former 
minister of international 
development; US Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican not running for 
re-election; and 
Bill Roedy, president of MTV Networks International.

Steven Radelet, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank Center for 
Global Development, 
which recently produced a report on new challenges facing the fund, said the 
failure to elect a new 
leader "is not good for the organization," but added that "trying to force 
through one candidate 
wouldn't be good, either." "I think it's a good process in that they clearly 
give voice to 
developing countries in a much stronger way" than the World Bank or 
International Monetary Fund, he 
said.

During the meeting, the fund's board approved $604 million in new grants to 
fight the three 
infectious diseases, bringing the fund's portfolio to $6.4 billion in programs 
in 135 countries.

John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly at globe.com.



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