Counterpart hails new leader of Global AIDS Fund

BRIDGETOWN: The election of Jamaican-Barbadian Dr. Carol Jacobs to chair of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been hailed as a step forward.

Dr. Basil Springer, chairman of Counterpart Caribbean hailed the appointment as a step forward in “the professional competence of Caribbean nationals, and especially our women who are increasingly accepting and successfully executing decision-making roles across the Caribbean and the world”.{{more}}

Dr. Jacobs, in her new role will receive support from the new Vice-Chair Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, M.D., France’s Ambassador on HIV/AIDS and Transmissible Diseases.

The election took place at the Global Fund’s 10th Board meeting in Geneva.

Dr. Jacobs is a graduate of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, with nine years’ work experience in government service in Barbados (at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital), before going into family practice. She has served as Chairman of the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission since 2001, spearheading an expanded national response to HIV/AIDS.

She joined the Board of the Global Fund as the Board’s representative for the Latin America and Caribbean Region in January 2004.

The Global Fund, a unique global public-private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, elects a Board Chair and a Vice-Chair for two-year terms.