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HIV/AIDS

Flight tax helps the fight against HIV/AIDS

Copenhagen, 25/10/2006: There will be a special tax on all flights from a number of destinations this year. The returns from the taxes are to support the fight against tuberculoses, malaria and HIV/AIDS all over the world. These three diseases kill millions of people each year, and are a great hindrance for development in poor countries.

© Michael Jensen

France, Brazil, Chile, Great Britain and Norway are the five countries behind the initiative. Nine other countries have promised to follow suit. The tax will vary from country to country and will depend on whether its domestic or international flights, economy or business class. In France, the lowest amount is one Euro and the highest 40 Euro.

  • Flight tax can help treat 200.000 children in 2007!

The flight tax initiative has a great potential. It is estimated that it can give 300 Million USD in 2007 alone. The amount is enough to pay for the treatment of 200.000 children, halve of whom have developed resistance against the traditional medicines.

In 2000, the governments of the world agreed on eight goals for world development. The so-called 2015 goals . One of the goals is specifically about HIV/AIDS and other global diseases. But it is already apparent that with out more aid and funding, it will not be possible to reach the 2015 goals.

A great intiative

“Flight tax is a really great initiative. It is also a breakthrough in the debate on how we can solve the world’s problems through automatic and predictable taxation, says Christian Friis Bach, Head of International DanChurchAid.

The money from flight taxes will be administrated by the international initiative, UNITAID. UNITAID’s role is to purchase medicine and support treatment of the three global diseases. There shall be close co-operation between the international agencies, such as WHO, The Global Fund, Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Initiative and UNICEF. They are to distribute the medicine bought by UNITAID.

  • Danish development minister says no to flight tax.

The Danish government is not part of the flight tax initiative. The Danish minister for development, Ulla Tørnæs, has said that this type of taxation will erode the consensus about keeping the Danish national development aid on the 0,7% level that it is now.

Christian Friis Bach finds this to be a bad argument: “The money from the taxes is of course to be added on top of the national development aid. The important thing is to find new and innovative sources of finance. There are unfortunately no lack of global problems”, he says.

Mattias Söderberg (msd@dca.dk)