Global Fund Board Chair Resigns Due to Illness
Author:
David Garmaise
Article Type:Article Number: 1
ABSTRACT Martin Dinham has resigned as Chair of the Global Fund Board "due to an unexpected deterioration in a long-standing health condition." Vice-Chair Mphu Ramatlapeng will serve as Interim Chair until new elections can be held.
Vice-Chair to serve as Interim Chair until new elections are held
On 16 August 2011, the Global Fund announced that Martin Dinham has resigned as Chair of the Global Fund Board “due to an unexpected deterioration in a long-standing health condition.”
Dinham was elected Chair for a two-year term in May 2011, at the same times as Mphu Ramatlapeng was elected Vice-Chair. Ramatlapeng, who is Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Kingdom of Lesotho, will serve as Interim Chair until new elections can be held. Under the Global Fund’s participatory governance model, the positions of Board Chair and Vice-Chair alternate between the donor block and the implementing country block. Because Dinham had been nominated by the donor block, his replacement will be nominated by the same block.
Dinham joined the Global Fund Board after a career in the British civil service, most recently as Director General for International Issues in the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID). “I am sure that I express the collective sentiments of the Global Fund’s Board when I say that this is sad and unexpected news for Martin and his family, and we send our thoughts and best wishes for an early recovery,” said Simon Bland, the Global Fund Board Member for the United Kingdom and Australia and DFID’s Head of Global Funds.
Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, expressed the Secretariat’s sincere gratitude for Dinham’s service to the Global Fund. “Immediately from his May appointment, Martin provided clear leadership and a demonstrated a level of commitment to the Global Fund that was inspiring to those working with him.”
Information for this article was taken from “Global Fund’s Board Chair Martin Dinham Steps Down Due to Illness,” Global Fund press release, 16 August 2011.
