Governance

Executive Board

The Executive Board, Unitaid’s decision-making body, determines the organization’s objectives, monitors progress and approves budgets. The Board is chaired by Marisol Touraine, former French Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Women’s Rights, 2012-2017. Making decisions by consensus, the Executive Board consists of 13 members:
  • One representative nominated from each of the five founding countries (Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom), Spain and the Republic of Korea;
  • One representative of African countries designated by the African Union;
  • Two representatives of relevant civil society networks (nongovernmental organizations and communities living with HIV/AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis);
  • One representative of foundations;
  • One representative of temporary shared non-voting seat (Japan);
  • One representative of the World Health Organization (non-voting).

Read the Executive Board’s Resolutions and Minutes 

Read the Executive Board’s e-Resolutions

Find out more about Unitaid’s Executive Committees

Find out more about Unitaid’s Proposal Review Committee

Chair and Vice-Chair

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Marisol Touraine

Chair

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Cecilia KIKU ISHITANI

Brazil / Vice-chair

Members

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Pierre Somse

African countries / Board member

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Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme

African countries / Alternate

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Draurio Barreira

Brazil / Alternate

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Francisco CARVAJAL

Chile / Board member

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Raquel Child

Chile / Alternate

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Louis DA GAMA

Communities living with the diseases / Board member

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Communities living with the diseases / Alternate

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Kieran Daly

Foundations / Board member

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Ingrid Etoke

Foundations / Alternate

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Anne-Claire Amprou

France / Board member

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Jérémie Forrat-Jaime

France / Alternate

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Toshihiro Kitamura

Japan / Board member

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Lynette Mabote

NGOs / Board member

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Sharonann Lynch

NGOS / Alternate

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Haitham EL-NOUSH

Norway / Board member

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Do-yeon WON

Republic of Korea / Board member

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Enhi Cho

Republic of Korea / Alternate

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Blanca Yanez

Spain / Board member

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Miguel Casado

Spain / Alternate

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Ian Dalton

United Kingdom / Board member

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Robert Buck

United Kingdom / Alternate

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Jérôme Salomon

World Health Organization / Board member

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Issa Matta

World Health Organization / Alternate

Pierre Somse

Representing African countries

 

Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme

Alternate Board Member for African Countries

Dr. Athaliah Molokomme is the Permanent Representative of Botswana to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva and Ambassador to Switzerland since 2017.

Prior to her current position, she served for 11 years as the first female Attorney General of the Republic of Botswana, where she was Principal Legal Advisor to the Government and ex-officio member of the Cabinet. In this role, she was a member of Botswana delegations to regional and international meetings held under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, a Masters in Law from Yale Law School, and a PhD in Law from Leiden University. She also attained a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIARB) in London, and is a Fellow of the CIARB.

She has served as a Judge of the High Court of Botswana, Senior Programme Officer for Gender at SADC, and Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Botswana. She also authored and published a number of journal articles and book chapters, as well as participated as a speaker and resource person at many conferences, seminars and workshops.

Dr Molokomme has contributed to the founding of a number of Human Rights Organisations at national, legal and international level, and currently serves on international boards including the Nuremberg Principles Advisory Council; Justice Rapid Response and the International Gender Champions Global Board.

During her tour in Geneva, she has served on a number of Committees including as Chairperson of the WTO Trade Policy Review Body; co-Chair of the Informal Working Group on Women and Trade; Chairperson of the ITC Joint Advisory Group for 2021; Chairperson of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in 2022 and was appointed Chairperson of the WTO General Council in March 2023.

Cecilia Kiku Ishitani

Representing Brazil / Vice-chair of the Executive Board

Born in Curitiba, Paraná, on 12 April 1971. She holds a degree in Law and has been a career diplomat since 1996, after concluding her studies at the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy. She also holds a post-graduate degree in Foreign Trade from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brasília-DF, and a Masters degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University, NY.  She served at the Brazilian Consulate General in New York, at the Brazilian Embassy to Colombia and at the Brazilian Embassy to the United Kingdom.

In the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Brasilia, she has worked as an Assistant to the Director General of the Trade Promotion Department and to the Undersecretary General for Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.  In the seven years prior to her present appointment, she was the Head of Japan and Korean Peninsula Division, acting Director of East Asia Department, Assistant and Deputy-Chief of Staff to the Secretary-General and subsequentially Director General of the Department of Japan, Korean Peninsula and the Pacific.

Marisol Touraine

Chair of the Executive Board

After studying at the Ecole normale supérieure for a degree in economics and social sciences, Marisol Touraine studied at the Institut d’études politiques of Paris and at the prestigious Harvard University in the United States.

Advisor to the Prime Minister from 1988 to 1991 on geostrategic issues, she became a member of the Conseil d’Etat in 1991. She then served at political positions at local level and within the French Parliament for several years before being appointed Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Women’s Rights (2012-2017). Of particular note in this role was her support to authorize and to assure financial coverage for innovative preventive HIV treatments, as well as her fight for the neutral cigarette pack, acknowledged by the WHO prize in 2016.

She is Chair of the Unitaid Executive Board since June 2019.

Draurio Barreira

Alternate Board Member

Francisco Carvajal

Representing Chile

Raquel Child

Alternate Board Member

Louis DA GAMA

Representing communities living with the diseases

Communities living with the diseases

Alternate Board Member

 

Kieran Daly

Foundations

Ingrid Etoke

Alternate Board Member

Ingrid Etoke joined the foundation in 2021 as Senior Program Officer, Health Products, Programs & Markets at the Gates foundation.

She is responsible for the new products introduction and market dynamics of the Malaria drugs, Vector Control and vaccine pipeline.

Before joining the foundation, Ingrid worked for the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) as Senior Market Access Manager.

She started her career in the pharmaceutical industry where she held several commercial roles in Europe and Africa, overseeing infectious and non communicable disease portofolio. Originally from Cameroon, Ingrid holds Masters degrees in Biochemistry and International Marketing from University of Science and Technology of Lille (France).

Anne-Claire Amprou

Representing France

Anne-Claire AMPROU is the French Ambassador for Global Health and, since April 2022, the French negotiator of the international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

After starting her career as a hospital director, she joined the Inspectorate-General of Social Affairs. She was a member of the Ebola task force and then Deputy Director General for Health at the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health. Before coordinating the French response to the Covid-19 crisis in 2021, she was Chief General Manager of Universcience, a cultural and scientific institute.

Jérémie Forrat-Jaime

Alternate Board Member

Jérémie Forrat-Jaime is Deputy Director of Human Development in the Sustainable Development Directorate of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs since September 1, 2022. This sub-directorate is in charge of issues related to global health, food security, education and gender equality.

Prior to this position, Jérémie Forrat-Jaime served as Deputy Director for Higher Education and Research (2020-2022) in the Department of Culture, Higher Education and the Network. He previously served as Political Counselor at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. (2018-2020) and as First Secretary of the French Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (2015-2018). Upon entering the diplomatic corps (Cadre d’Orient), he was a member of the Afghanistan-Pakistan unit within the Ministry’s Asia and Oceania Directorate.

Jérémie Forrat-Jaime is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and of the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO).

Toshihiro Kitamura

Representing Japan

Toshihiro Kitamura is a diplomat with extensive experience in development cooperation, particularly in Asia. He served in Vietnam and France and was Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka before being appointed Deputy Director General of the International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in September 2021.

Prior to his current assignment, he was Ambassador for Climate Change and Head of Delegation for UNFCCC-related processes in the same bureau.

Lynette Mabote

Representing nongovernmental organizations

 

 

Sharonann Lynch

Alternate Board Member

Haitham El Noush

Representing Norway

Haitham El-Noush, Senior Advisor, Innovation in Health and Development, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Mr. Haitham El-noush has been, during the past nine years, managing the innovation portfolio within global health for the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad); promoting and scaling-up innovative tools and approaches for health and development; through pursing tasks related to policy, partnerships, and operations. He was also the project manager for the UN Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) Innovation Working Group (IWG); through which he led the creation of thriving partnerships that inspired to consensus building, out-of-the-box thinking, and mobilization of financial and non-financial resources.

El-noush has a long international cooperation career with work experience from nine countries representing three continents; working for both governments, INGOs and the UN. Throughout his career, he has been providing thought-leadership, building and pursuing new initiatives as well as novel work streams and approaches constructed around innovation and digital tools. He has an extensive leadership experience from managing large and complex operations and portfolios.

El-noush has a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture science with agriculture economics as major from University of Khartoum in Sudan, a Master of Science degree in development economics and international development with microfinance as thesis topic from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and a Diploma in pedagogy from Nord (Northern Norway) University. Moreover, he earned a Diploma in impact investing from Saïd Business School at Oxford University; and has recently obtained a course certificate on global health from University of Copenhagen.

Do-yeon WON

Representing the Republic of Korea

Doyeon Won is the Director-General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. He has served as Counsellor at the Korean Permanent Mission to UN in New York and Chief of the UNFPA Seoul Office.

 

Enhi Cho

Alternate Board Member

 

Blanca Yanez

Representing Spain

 

Miguel Casado

Alternate Board Member

Ian Dalton

Representing the United Kingdom

Ian is the Senior Head of Pharmaceuticals (Regulation, Manufacturing and Markets) at the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

He has over a decade of senior engagement in UK, European and International Health & Life Science issues, including roles at the UK’s Medicines Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Most recently he led the FCDO’s global pharmaceuticals and diagnostics response to COVID-19 – including his role as Chair of the ACT-Accelerator Therapeutics and Diagnostics Working Group – bringing together partners from across governments, civil society, global health institutions and industry to examine the challenges to equitable access of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

He is also a member of the WHO’s Advisory Group on Local Manufacturing (TAG-LPTT) and brings an in-depth knowledge of institutional and delivery architectures, alongside a well-established understanding of regulatory and policy frameworks.

Robert Buck

Alternate Board Member

Jérôme Salomon

Representing the World Health Organization

Appointed in April 2023, Dr Jérôme Salomon oversee a broad portfolio of technical programmes covering HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually-transmitted infections, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, mental health, substance use disorders, and noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancer.

Dr Salomon previously served as the Director-General for Health at the Ministry of Health and Prevention of France. He was a Member of the WHO Executive Board prior to his appointment as a WHO Assistant Director-General and has extensive experience in health systems management, communicable diseases and international public health.

Dr Salomon holds a medical degree, a Master of Public Health and a PhD in epidemiology.

Issa Matta

Alternate Board Member

Issa Matta is Senior Legal Officer who joined WHO in 2003. His principal responsibilities include legal and governance support to WHO partnerships and alliances, the WHO Foundation, the WHO Academy and on legal matters relating to engagement with non-state actors, as well as commercial and contractual issues.

In 2008, Issa spent a year as a senior lawyer at the Global Fund.  He also acquired significant private sector legal experience during his time as corporate counsel with the pharmaceutical company Merck-Serono as well as in-house attorney with the global consulting firm Andersen.  Issa began his career as a legal consultant in the Abu Dhabi Office of a leading New York based international law firm.

Issa has a J.D. from the University of Virginia and is admitted as an attorney before the New York bar. Prior to his legal studies, Issa specialized in international relations with a focus on the Middle East.

Issa is from Lebanon and also lived in Jordan, Kenya, Iraq, UAE, and the USA.

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