U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday “appointed Michel Kazatchkine as his Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, one of only two regions in the world where HIV is continuing to grow,” a U.N. press release states. “Michel Kazatchkine is an internationally recognized physician who has devoted 30 years of his professional life to the AIDS response,” the press release notes, adding that he has served as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and director of the French National Agency for AIDS Research (7/20).