![[JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/193005719/e1ef49dfff2b9630933b7d32e976e5d25775d11e0aec137d769147bc4af6a68e)
Overview
- Her daughter told AFP that Michèle Barzach died in Paris from a stroke, a fact confirmed by family sources and reported to news agencies.
- Barzach served as France’s minister of health in Jacques Chirac’s 1986–1988 cohabitation government and introduced early public measures against AIDS.
- As health minister she pushed through a law allowing condom advertising, a notable change in public‑health messaging during the 1980s epidemic.
- Her political career included roles as RPR national delegate for social affairs, election as a Paris deputy in 1988, and service as deputy mayor under Chirac until 1995, and she left the RPR in 1990 after internal disputes.
- After leaving frontline politics she signed a 1996 manifesto for gender parity, led UNICEF France from 2012 to 2015, and advised international health organizations, leaving a legacy that ties early AIDS policy to later child‑rights and parity work; no public funeral details have been released.