Michel Kazatchkine is a French

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, diplomat and advocate who is best known for his work in international AIDS treatment issues. From February 2007 to March 2012 he was director of

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, ...

. On July 20, 2012,

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...

Ban Ki-moon appointed him as his United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Kazatchkine is also a Senior Fellow with the Global Health Program of the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, or the Geneva Graduate Institute (french: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement), abbreviated IHEID, is a government-accredited postgraduate institution ...

in Geneva, and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Early life and education

Kazatchkine graduated medical school at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

then studied

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see the ...

at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines ...

Career

Kazatchkine first treated AIDS patients in 1983, and by 1985 had founded a clinic in Paris specializing in AIDS treatment. Kazatchkine directed the French National Agency for AIDS Research between 1998 and 2005. He is a member of Médecins du Monde and one of the founders of Nova Dona, which is a non-profit organization giving services to drug users in Paris. In 2004-2007 Kazatchkine served as a Chair of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

's Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS and as a member of the WHO's Scientific and Technical Advisory Group on tuberculosis. In February 2005 he also became France's HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases global ambassador and served in this role until 2007. From 2005 until 2006 Kazatchkine served

as a vice chair. He became the organization's director in 2007, succeeding Richard Feachem. During his time in office, a pledging conference in 2010 raised less than its lowest target of $13 billion over three years. Also, Kazatchkine became the target of allegations of favouritism in funding a HIV awareness campaign co-ordinated by friends of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, whom he named as the fund's first global Aids ambassador; the charges were later investigated and found baseless by the Fund's board. In late 2011, the Fund's board appointed a general manager to oversee day-to-day operations and a new transition plan, effectively reducing Kazatchkine's role to that of chief fund-raiser and public advocate. In January 2012 the Global Fund officially announced that Kazatchkine will step down in March 2012. Since 2020, Kazatchkine has been serving as a member of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), an independent group examining how the WHO and countries handled the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, co-chaired by

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monro ...

Other activities

* Global Health Centre,

, Member of the International Advisory Board (since 2020) * Open Society Foundations (OSF), Member of Advisory Board on Global Drug Policy * Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), Member of the BoardBoard
Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI).

References

External links

Official website of Michel KazatchkineKazatchkine gives a speech on inequality of AIDS treatment in the decade since 2000Speech at a meeting of the United States Council on Foreign Relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazatchkine, Michel Living people Year of birth missing (living people) French immunologists HIV/AIDS researchers HIV/AIDS activists Physicians from Paris University of Paris faculty Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations