Blog 7: Innovative Financing

Economic downturn has its effects on everything to include financial gifts for countries suffering from HIV, AIDS, malaria, and TB.  The article is an interview with Philippe Douste-Blazy, board chairman of the international financing mechanism for the UNITAID initiative.  UNITAID’s purpose is to find ways of funding the fight against these certain epidemics that plague the African continent.  He says the biggest help that they have succeeded in raising money is through various types of innovative financing, one of them being a levy on airplane tickets.  Basically, it is like paying one or two extra dollars on top of the plane ticket that would directly go to the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB on the African continent.  Over the past five years they have raise two billion dollars from this initiative.  Douste-Blazy goes on to say that these health issues are a global problem, so it literally should receive financial support from everybody, not just from certain countries who what to give a little bit of money.  “If you can buy a plane ticket, you can pay one dollar more; you have no difference between [the contributions of] developed and developing countries. The strength of this concept is [it fosters not only] North-South solidarity but also South-South solidarity.”  A reason why more countries, like the United States, has not joined the UNITAID’s innovative financing initiative for fighting health issues is that people, by nature, are generous, but when forced to give up more of their money without their say, that is where they have the problem.  Another reason is financing such an initiative that, from a prospective country’s perception, their stock market is going to be bypassed and then their country’s economy will not be able to hold weight within the world’s economy.  Douste-Blazy ends with saying that his priority is to ride the coattails of capitalism and take innovative financing further than it has gone before to raise more money for the healthcare programs of the African continent.

The inequality gap between the rich (developed/postindustrial) countries and the poor (developing) countries is what is partially causing the healthcare issues amongst those that cannot afford it.  When the AIDS epidemic came to the forefront of the world’s attention, many countries acted with aid and support.  But, that was when the economy was in good health and now it most definitely is not.  New, creative ways are now being developed and implemented to financially support countries that are affected by such health issues.  HIV/AIDS is most definitely a global issue, so, like the article says, it should be truly a global problem.  Every single person should support it.  But, not to be insensitive to those living below the poverty line, imposing a tax/levy on a highly demanded, relatively high cost commodity, like a plane ticket, will affect those who truly have the disposable income to support it.  The tax/levy only being a fraction of a percent of what the plane ticket is still goes a long way when millions of plane seats a filled each year.  Personally, I would not mind having to pay one to two dollars more to support the fight against HIV/AIDS, but I really would not want to know about it either.  By allowing the inequality gap to continue to widen the most poorest of the poor will never be able to elevate themselves to a point where they can afford some of the necessities in life that most in the developed world take for granted, like healthcare. 

http://allafrica.com/stories/201303191308.html?viewall=1

Matt Partridge

03/21/2013 at 4:10 pm