Gay Labour MP Charles Chauvel has been appointed to promote a unique global partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. A friend in the Pacific: Charles Chauvel Chauvel, who is a former Chairman of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and a member of Labour's Pacific Caucus, has now been appointed to the Board of the Pacific Friends of The Global Fund. Launched in Sydney in February, the Pacific Friends was founded to create and sustain visibility and awareness for the Global Fund across the Pacific region. "New Zealand has an important role in the Pacific region and as a Member of Parliament of Tahitian descent, I am delighted to have been appointed”, Chauvel said at the launch. "As a Board member I am proud to play a role in helping to contain HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and to increase awareness of the Global Fund in the Pacific region." The other New Zealand Member of the Board is former Prime Minister Rt Hon Helen Clark, who takes up her new role as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme in New York later this month. It is anticipated that Chauvel will represent Helen Clark at meetings of the Board of the Pacific Friends over the next four years while she is based in the USA. Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main source of finance for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with more than 550 programs in 136 countries. It provides a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, two-thirds for tuberculosis and three quarters for malaria. Information about the Global Fund's work is available on the link below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Monday, 27th April 2009 - 6:50pm