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26 April 2007



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE





Global Fund Turns to Private Sector for New Chair

Southern Civil Society Leader Chosen Vice-Chair





Geneva -The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
today elected Rajat Gupta, former managing director of McKinsey & Company,
as its new Chair. Elizabeth Mataka, who heads a Zambian AIDS organization,
was elected as Vice-Chair.



"The Global Fund was created as a public/private partnership, and today we
have taken that a significant step further," said Dr Carol Jacobs, the
outgoing Chair of the Global Fund Board. "By choosing representatives from
the private sector and civil society to lead a multi-billion dollar
international financial institution, the Board shows the high level of trust
and collaboration that has been developed during the five-year life of the
Global Fund."

Mr Rajat Gupta is a senior partner and former managing director of McKinsey
& Company, a global management consulting firm, where he has been serving
since 1973. Mr. Gupta is also the Chair of the Board of the Indian School of
Business and Chair of the Public Health Foundation of India, a
public/private partnership to establish seven schools of excellence in
public health to train over 10,000 professionals each year.

Born in India, he is an American citizen, and is the second American to
chair the Global Fund. Tommy Thompson did so while serving as U.S. Secretary
of Health and Human Services.

Ms Elizabeth Mataka represents the developing country NGOs on the Board of
the Global Fund. She has been working in the field of HIV/AIDS for the past
16 years and has been involved in all aspects of responding to the AIDS/TB
epidemic. She has experience working in Government, the Private Sector and
Non- Governmental Organisations. She has provided leadership in preventions,
clinical treatment for opportunistic infections, care and support at
community and national levels. She currently serves as Executive Director
of the Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN). She has broad experience in
policy development, having been a member of the Zambia National AIDS Council
since inception and serving on various other Boards.

During the five years since its creation, the Global Fund has grown to
become the dominant financier of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria,
with US$10.4 billion in firm pledges and commitments of US$7.1 billion for
programs in 136 countries. So far, programs supported by the Global Fund
have averted 1.7 million deaths, through providing AIDS treatment for
770,000 people, TB treatment for 2 million people, effective medicines for
23 million cases of malaria and distributing bed nets to 18 million families
in Africa and beyond.



"The Global Fund is in the business of saving lives, and like the private
sector we have a very strong focus on results," said Dr. Michel Kazatchkine,
who took office this week as executive director of the Global Fund. "We
want to make sure the world is getting the best possible return on the
investment we've been entrusted with. Having a chair from the private sector
and vice-chair from an African citizens' group underlines our accountability
to best business practices, and to social justice."



Gupta takes over the role of Chair from Dr Carol Jacobs, Chairwoman of the
National Commission for HIV/AIDS of Barbados. Mataka succeeds Dr Lieve
Fransen, Head of Human and Social Development for the European Commission's
Directorate General of Development. The elections were held at the Fifteenth
Board Meeting in Geneva, which takes place from 25 to 27 April. The new
Chair and Vice-Chair will take up their positions at the Sixteenth Board
meeting in November this year.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has a unique board
structure as donor and recipient countries, non-governmental organizations,
the private sector (including businesses and foundations) and affected
communities all share governance responsibilities. Both donors and
recipients each hold ten voting seats on the Board, while the World Health
Organization, the World Bank, UNAIDS, and the Swiss government hold
non-voting seats. The Global Fund Board elects a Chair and a Vice-Chair for
a two-year term. The Chair and Vice-Chair positions alternate between
representatives of the donor voting group and the recipient voting group.



###



The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to
attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments,
civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new
approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close
collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to
supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases.

The Global Fund has approved grants for 450 programs in 136 countries with a
total commitment of US$ 7.1 billion. As of December 2006, 770,000 people
have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Global Fund-supported
programs and nearly 18 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been
distributed to prevent malaria. In addition, tuberculosis programs have
detected and treated

2 million TB cases under DOTS, the internationally-approved TB control
strategy.





Further information, please contact:



Jon Lidén -The Global Fund, Geneva

Office: +41 22 791 17 23

Mobile: + 41 79 244 60 06

jon.liden@... <mailto:jon.liden@...>





Nicolas Demey -The Global Fund, Geneva

Office: +41 22 791 59 57

Mobile: + 41 76 436 43 20

nicolas.demey@... <mailto:nicolas.demey@...>







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Information on the work of the Global Fund is available at:
www.theglobalfund.org <http://www.theglobalfund.org/> and on
www.jointheglobalfund.org <http://www.jointheglobalfund.org/>












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