Interim leader appointed as Global Fund election restarts.

The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last week terminated the initial search for a new Executive Director to lead the agency and reopened the race after a series of allegations, leaks, insufficient due diligence, and divergent political agendas derailed efforts. On March 3, the board announced the appointment of Marijke Wijnroks as Interim Executive Director to serve from June 1 “until a new Executive Director selected by the Board is able to begin”. Wijnroks is currently the Global Fund’s Chief of Staff and a former HIV/AIDS ambassador for the Netherlands. The board was slated to select a new head on Feb 27–28 from two finalists—Muhammad Pate, a former Nigerian Minister of State for Health, and Subhanu Saxena, a British citizen, and a former chief executive officer of the Indian drug company Cipla. A third finalist, Helen Clark, the outgoing head of the UN Development Programme, had withdrawn from the contest and had voiced concerns over the selection process. The winner was to take over from the incumbent Mark Dybul, who steps down from the post at the end of May, 2017. However, the board instead suspended the initial selection and voted by consensus to restart the process, sources said. In a statement issued on Feb 27, it said, “due to issues encountered in the recruitment process, the Board felt they were unable to bring the process to conclusion....the Board decided to restart the process”. The ruling body aims to select the next Executive Director later this year. An executive from a major European advocacy group fighting AIDS, speaking on the condition of nonattribution, said: “We are looking for a candidate with a broad global health background, strong managerial experience, and an ability to raise funds.” According to senior diplomatic and international health com munity sources close to the board proceedings, a range of factors triggered the selection crisis. The head of a major Genevabased UN agency, who declined to be identified, told The Lancet, “given the process was tainted, the Global Fund Board had no alternative but to restart the proceedings”.