GENEVA – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has elected Martin Dinham, a Former Director General in the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, as the new Board Chair and Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng, the Lesotho Minister of health and Social Welfare as Vice-Chair.

At its meeting in Geneva on May, 2011, the board also approved a comprehensive reform agenda to maximize the effectiveness of the Global Fund. The reform agenda includes   measures for greater financial   controls and risk management, greater value for money and further improvements in the way the Global Fund manages its grants.

The Board approved the framework for an ambitious five-year agenda, which will set the direction and targets for the organization. The Board will approve a finalized strategy and work plan at its second meeting of the year.

The Board reaffirmed its continued commitment to full transparency and independence of the Office of Inspector General. It also clarified an issue of eligibility for middle income countries to apply for funding from the Global Fund.

In his career as a British civil servant, Martin Dinham has operated in senior leadership roles in the public service, advising successive Prime Ministers and other Cabinet Ministers on key issues. These include a position as senior advisor to the Governor of Hong Kong in the lead up to its       handover to China and most recently as Director General for International Issues in the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

“I am delighted to accept this position at a time when the UK Government has strongly   endorsed the Global Fund’s performance in its recent Multilateral Aid Review, an assessment which I very much share,” said Mr. Dinham. “I am looking forward to utilize my experience over many years in the public sector in management and organizational change in supporting the Secretariat and the Board in taking forward their    ambitious reform agenda.”

Prof Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund Secretariat, hailed Mr. Dinham’s election as Board’s Chair and that of Dr. Ramatlapeng as Vice-Chair. “I congratulate both Mr. Dinham and Dr. Ramatlapeng on their election and look forward to working with them over the next two years, at a time when the Global Fund is entering a period of reform and consolidation,” Kazatchkine said.

Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng has been the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Lesotho since 2007. Before being appointed as Minister, she served for two years as the Country Director of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Lesotho. She has previously practised as a physician for more than 20 years in Mafeteng District, Lesotho, and was a lecturer at the National Health Training College.

Martin Dinham takes over the role of Board Chair from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng succeeds Ernest Loevinsohn, Director, Global Health Policy & Advocacy Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The changeover happens at a time when the Board has formally endorsed a high-level   independent panel to review the Global Fund’s financial safeguards. Co-chaired by former US Health Secretary Michael Leavitt and    former President of Botswana   Festus Mogae, the panel will     submit its final report to the Global Fund Board by September 15, 2011.