Leaders from several nations launched a global initiative Tuesday for an airline tax to raise money to fund treatment for deadly diseases in developing countries, reports The World Bank.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan welcomed the initiative during a conference on the sidelines of the General Assembly, and praised the program as a ‘shining example of an innovative source of funding.’
A panel of supporters, comprised by leaders from Chile, France, and Norway, as well as former US President Bill Clinton, and the British and Brazilian foreign ministers, convened Tuesday to announce the initiative, known as UNITAID, or ‘united to aid,’
So far, 44 nations make up a pilot group that will institute a tax. Of those, only 18 countries are already ready to apply an airline tax.
The initiative aims to help some 200,000 children who have contracted AIDS, as well as 150,000 victims of tuberculosis and 28 million with malaria.
France will contribute the most – about $ 250 million next year from the proceeds of an airline ticket tax that went into effect on July 1.
Though France and the other donors have promised that the aid will be in addition to other poverty financing, some analysts, like Steven Radelet at the Center for Global Development in Washington, worry that the airline tax revenue will eventually supplant traditional sources of assistance from annual government budgets.
Kilde: www.un.org
