Finding ways to fund global health programs can be tricky. Private sources of funding are difficult to secure, and raising taxes or increasing national budgets is sometimes politically untenable. That’s why UNITAID, a broadly supported organization that emphasizes innovative financing, is starting to gain some traction.
In early 2005, several countries including France, Germany, Brazil, Chile and Spain commissioned studies to develop efficient ways to fund the global health benchmarks set forth in the Millennium Development Goals. In September of that year, during a U.N. conference on that same topic in France, then-president Jacques Chirac declared a levy on French airline ticket sales that would finance a drug-purchasing program.
Shortly thereafter, UNITAID was founded by France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Chile. This organization’s focus is the effective treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis via innovative financing methods. But what is innovative financing? In this context, innovative financing is essentially any low-impact, targeted tax which is aimed at funding global health programs.
The aforementioned airline ticket levy was the earliest example of such a tax. The levy is designed to be a robust, stable public funding source that doesn’t affect business. And indeed, the levy has been a great success in France. The modest €1 per ticket levy manages to raise about €160 million in revenue per year and did not experience much fluctuation after the global financial crisis in 2008. And a report by the French National Assembly in 2011 found that the levy had “no negative effect on traffic or on air sector jobs.”
Not all of the 29 states who support UNITAID have implemented an airline ticket levy (thus far only Chile, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger and South Korea have implemented these measures). However, other measures have been proposed or implemented which achieve the same effect. For example, Norway sets aside a portion of its taxes on carbon to UNITAID.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPussmAv47Y
Another innovation developed by France in 2012 is the financial transaction tax, or FTT. The FTT is a negligible fee attached to any sale of a financial instrument such as a bond or stock. The tax is designed to have no effect on the volume of financial exchanges, yet is capable of raising huge amounts of revenue in countries who sustain many financial transactions. In fact, the idea of an FTT is not a new one; famous 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes was a proponent of implementing FTTs to discourage financial speculation. Many countries already have FTTs for this reason. UNITAID simply proposes that revenue from FTTs be applied towards financing global health initiatives.
In September 2014, UNITAID developed another financing method: the taxation of extractive resources such as oil. The Republic of Congo agreed to a tax on oil, and UNITAID hopes that other African nations will follow suit. The revenue from these taxes will be set aside to reduce malnutrition, which is a leading cause of death among children.
While finding innovative sources of funding is UNITAID’s primary role, the organization also seeks market solutions towards the more effective distribution of medicines for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria. They accomplish this by channeling funds towards identifying and promoting improved health commodities, expanding the market potential for low-profit medicines and making their distribution more efficient and inexpensive. The idea is that medicines and medical tests need to be less expensive and easier to distribute so they can reach a greater number of people.
There are no silver bullets when it comes to financing global health. Funding needs to come from a variety of consistent sources, and it needs to be dispersed efficiently. National spending on foreign aid continues to have the greatest funding potential; the $2.5 billion raised by the airline ticket levy in 8 years just doesn’t measure up to the $30 billion that the United States spends on foreign aid every year. Even so, every bit of funding matters, and to solve global health issues, it’s going to require every innovative solution available.
– Derek Marion
Sources: Huffington Post, UNITAID, World Bank, OECD
Photo: Comunica Extend
Shaquille O’Neal Supports UNIFORM
Athlete Shaquille O’Neal and fashion designer Whitney Port have geared up to join the UNIFORM cause to support children’s education in Liberia. The idea for UNIFORM came from Chid Liberty, the owner of Africa’s first fair trade apparel factory, Liberty and Justice. The project was created to get the company’s employees back to work and to get kids back in school after the Ebola crisis in 2014.
The cost of uniforms is often enough to keep children out of school. Many West African schools require students to wear uniforms, and this puts many kids out of luck for education.
For every shirt sold by UNIFORM, a uniform is donated to a child who cannot afford a needed uniform.
Port and O’Neal have shown their support for UNIFORM by designing and advocating for the products. O’Neal is spreading the word as a UNIFORM ambassador. Port is designing a graphic for a women’s muscle tank as a collaboration with her fashion line, Whitney Eve.
Because of these celebrities and many other contributors, many children can receive an education and new clothing. “It sounds so silly to us here, but if you can imagine, the average civil servant in Liberia makes 60 to 80 dollars a month,” Liberty said. “If you have five kids and all of them need a 10 dollar uniform to go to school, it is basically a month’s pay just to get your kids’ uniforms. So, it’s a super critical thing because if you don’t have a uniform, you simply can’t go to school.”
Not only does the clothing line promote education, but the clothes are also made of comfy material and are factory-direct products. UNIFORM sells black, white and gray shirts, and with the purchase of one product, the buyer receives a notebook, pencil and a photo of a child who received a school uniform. Since UNIFORM is factory-direct, the products are good quality and lower prices.
“The UNIFORM team is responding to Liberia’s post-Ebola challenges in a way that advances women’s rights and universal access to education for all children,” the UNIFORM website said. UNIFORM is made ethically in West Africa, so the clothing line provides jobs for over 300 people, 98 percent of whom are women. The factory in Monrovia, Liberia that manufactures the clothes was built with the goal to give impoverished local women fair employment. These women are given healthcare benefits as well as literacy classes.
UNIFORM’s goal is to sell enough clothing to get 50,000 kids in school by the end of the year. Liberty said that UNIFORM has currently helped 6,000 kids. With this goal in mind, the UNIFORM team is creating new items for the UNIFORM clothing line.“We’ll have our signature T-shirt, but we are working on all kinds of great products from oxfords to brief cases, all of them tying in with helping kids go to school,” Liberty said. Liberty is devoted to helping children go to school. To contribute to the cause and to help Liberty, go to uniform.is.
– Fallon Lineberger
Sources: Look to the Stars, Style Blazer, UNIFORM
Photo: Deadline
Stars to Support World Humanitarian Day
Many celebrities have answered the call of the United Nations relief arm by posting and tweeting to raise awareness and hype for this year’s World Humanitarian Day on August 22.
The U.N. has asked young and digitally-connected people to talk about the compelling stories of people in need by sharing these tales on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
Stars have already taken to their profiles by using the hashtag ShareHumanity, which will be observed across the world’s U.N. system and beyond, promoting a change for World Humanitarian Day.
Australian singer Cody Simpson, Chinese martial artist Jet Li, actress Shay Mitchell and British singer Leona Lewis have all endorsed the campaign. Brazilian football player Ricardo Kaka sponsored the initiative by sharing people’s stories of endurance, faith and optimism.
The Share Humanity campaign calls on people to donate their social media feeds to inspire “a greater sense of responsibility, solidarity and social activism, using the far-reaching impact of social media,” said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Simpson, 18, shared his reasoning behind his activism. “I’m getting behind #ShareHumanity because it’s a way of showing that we haven’t forgotten that there are millions living in humanitarian crises,” he said. “I hope others will join us in this massive display of public support calling for a more humane world.”
Along with Simpson, Mitchell and Lewis are promoting this cause by sharing different inspiring accounts. Mitchell is sharing the story of Oliver, titled Welcome to Skateistan, while Lewis tells the story of Khaled, called Baby in the Rubble: Syria’s White Helmets.
According to the U.N., in 2015, 78 million people globally are in need of food, education, health care or shelter. To help save these people, the world needs to raise $16.4 billion to eradicate this problem. In a video sanctioned by World Humanitarian Day, the U.N. asks that humanitarians share their stories about giving back, so that the world may potentially raise this money to make a drastic change.
“Share an incredible journey. Share new friends. Share a miraculous status. Share something that needs to be stopped. Share something that should never stop. Share humanity,” the video said. It shows several videos of incredible and shocking moments that all appear to be videotaped on a cell phone due to the pixelated low quality. Since most videos posted on social media are taken from cell phones, the video makes a good point: phones and social media are the gateway to making a difference.
The power of digital devices and social media can change the world. People who understand and wish to act on this can join Messengers of Humanity. In association with Share Humanity, Messengers of Humanity creates an online presence for those who want to change the world. The people involved in Messengers of Humanity see the influence of social media and know mindfulness is the primary stage in driving achievement. They practice their social networks to communicate about matters that need to change and to transform the world we live in.
On the World Humanitarian Day website, there is a live feed that shows each person who has donated their social media feed to the cause. There are too many people to count. These are the numbers that are needed to really create change in the world. To help, search #ShareHumanity or visit worldhumanitarianday.org.
– Fallon Lineberger
Sources: Look to the Stars, World Humanitarian Day
Photo: Daily Record
Four Girls for Families: Youth Making a Difference
In 2010, a trip to Cambodia changed the lives of four young girls. As two girls witnessed the health problems caused in Cambodia due to unsanitary drinking water, they both decided to start a mission to help families protect their health. Four Girls for Families began when sisters Rae (11 years old) and Emmy (eight years old) Specht traveled to Cambodia with their family during the winter of 2010.
While in Cambodia, both sisters were introduced to the harsh living standards of the local people. The two sisters decided to make a difference when they discovered that 75 percent of deaths in Cambodia were the results of drinking unsanitary water. Once they arrived in the United States, the Specht sisters began to brainstorm with their friends Clara Walker (10 years old) and Maddie Joinnides (11 years old). Four Girls for Families was born.
With the aid and support of their parents, the four girls began to create homemade jewelry, crafts and T-shirts to raise awareness about unsanitary drinking water in developing countries. The money the girls raised during their sells was used to buy water filters that would be delivered to Cambodians in need.
The water filters used by Four Girls for Families are designed to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria and are given to individual families. In a country where 65 percent of the population does not have access to clean drinking water, water filters play a vital role in protecting the health of families.
Nearly five years later, Four Girls for Families has become a non-profit organization that still continues to provide water filters to rural places in Cambodia. From 2011 to 2014 Rae and Emmy Specht, Clara Walker and Maddie Joinnides have raised nearly $40,000 and supplied 2,000 water filters to families.
This past year, the organization has gained more support in its hometown of Bellport, New York, which has allowed Four Girls for Families to provide 300 water filters to families this past spring. Four Girls for Families relies on fundraisers and profits from their online shop. As the organization gains more acknowledgement and support, all four girls continue to think of ways to provide more water filters to Cambodia.
– Erendira Jimenez
Sources: Four Girls for Families, YouTube, Bellport
Photo: Four Girls for Families
Income Disparity Continues to Plague South Africa
The country of South Africa is divided among those with nothing and those with seemingly everything, making for extremely high rates of poverty for the country overall. The income disparity in South Africa has had an impact not only on the domestic economy and security, but also on the global economy.
Reports show that approximately four percent of households in the country of South Africa make up 32 percent of the country’s household incomes. At the same time, about 10 percent of the citizens live in what are considered extreme poverty conditions, meaning families are living on under $1.25 a day. This disparity has not only drawn attention to the state of the economy, but it has also put a significant strain on the social aspects of the country as a whole.
Though South Africa stands as the second largest economy in Africa, economic disparity amidst the population has created more social tensions and controversy than the numbers would anticipate. Research shows that rates of disparity between members of the 90th percentile and 50th percentile citizens, in terms of income and economic security, have been continuing to grow in recent years. This means that the likelihood of social mobility, say from working class to middle class, or any further for that means, are rather difficult, and nearly impossible.
Despite becoming a democracy, South Africa continues to suffer with inequality between its citizens. This has proven to be an issue regarding security, as the growing size of the lower class and number of impoverished people compares to that of the other four percent. Lack of education can be a great contributing factor to this, as the number of unskilled and uneducated workers heavily outweighs the number of skilled workers in the country. Lack of skill and education leads to less opportunity for the average South African worker. Thus, educating and teaching more skill sets to the people of South Africa may, in part, begin to decrease the growing gap that continues to drive the people of the country apart.
– Alexandrea Jacinto
Sources: CNBC Africa, World Policy
Photo: Daily Maverick
Five Countries on the Rise
As our world becomes increasingly globalized, formerly developing nations are gaining access to new technology and experiences that have allowed them to jump leaps and bounds in the matter of a few years. This rapid evolution of a country’s standing has led to massive changes in the global community as a whole, but several countries stand out above the rest as strong contenders in the globalized market. Five countries on the rise can be found below:
1. Turkey
Over the past year, Turkey experienced a growth rate of over 11 percent, one that surpasses even that of China. This nation has been able to foster its manufacturing and democratic systems gently even as the nations around it fell to the pressure of the global community’s demands. Turkey’s focus on exports has increased job availability overall and has drastically reduced poverty in the nation. Turkey has realized that the key to success is to focus on the happiness of its people, and with increased employment opportunity and decreased poverty, Turkey has set itself up to become a major world power.
2. Mexico
According to a recent Brookings Metropolitan Policy release, Mexico City is one of the most economically vibrant cities in the world. The 12th largest economy in the world has become a hub for business, and through promotion of entrepreneurial spirit, it has experienced income and employment growth. All of this growth is steady because much of Mexico’s export profits come from the United States, which provides a steady dollar currency. Once a hub for crime and poverty, Mexico is quickly becoming a contender for one of the world’s strongest and happiest nations.
3. Democratic Republic of the Congo
For several decades, people have associated the Congo with horrible war, poverty, disease and death, but with the promise of a more stable government, things are beginning to look up for the Congolese people. Much of the war that takes place in the Congo is over its bountiful mineral fields, which provide vital minerals that are used in almost every electronic device today. Major companies buy their products from war-torn regions without realizing what their needs are doing to the people within, but with the recent increase in more conscientious shopping, companies are beginning to watch what they use. The promise of a stable government means a decrease in war, an increase in legislation, an increase in local miners getting mineral profits and an overall decrease in poverty throughout the DRC.
4. India
While India has been on the rise for quite a few years now, it continues to grow and develop, and with the second highest population in the world, it has set itself up to become one of the world’s new superpowers. India’s main asset is its tech abilities and manufacturing. Several companies have plants in India that create their products for export, and with the massive amount of manpower that India can provide, they find no issues arising. India’s poverty rates continue to decline and their education rates continue to increase and will continue to do so with the use of the U.N. Standard Development Goals, essentially creating a brighter future today.
5. Nigeria
Nigeria has long been thought of as the most developed country in Africa and has been cited in several speeches and talks by citizens and politicians as such. With the strong technology boom coming in from the West as well as the investment in Africa by foreign NGOs, Nigeria has set itself up to become the strongest nation in Africa. With a more stable government and a more united public it will become a force to be reckoned with in the global community.
While several nations, such as China and the United States, have long enjoyed the relaxation and innovation that comes with life on the top, it appears as though they need to slide over and make some room because these five countries are ready to join them.
– Sumita Tellakat
Sources: The Atlantic, CS Monitor
Photo: CS Monitor
Latin America’s Green Initiatives Improve Livelihoods
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), one in three households use wood as their main source of fuel for cooking, with over half of all wood produced in the world being used as energy.
Although this resource may be an efficient means of living for the present generation, it is neither an environmentally-friendly nor a sustainable one. This is why countries in Latin America are teaming up to adopt innovative approaches to preserving forests and reducing climate change through Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
In an article by The World Bank, REDD+ is described as being “a global initiative to help create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests; it offers developing countries incentives to reduce emissions from forest land, while developed countries pay for the carbon that is not released into the atmosphere as a result of forest conservation.”
With only about a quarter of the world’s original old-growth forests intact, environmental initiatives in countries such as Chile, El Salvador and Mexico have begun through REDD+. These include plans such as strengthening communication within local communities, developing new approaches to measuring the amount of carbon lost in trees, helping communities affected by natural events restore their landscape and building community management of natural resources.
Collectively, these investments are saving the trees, but more importantly are ensuring a step in the right direction to achieving a thriving planet for our future generations. These initiatives will not just protect forested areas, but will also help preserve most of the world’s freshwater sources and aid in mitigating the effects of climate change. Since trees absorb carbon emissions, this in turn helps to keep the world’s temperatures from rising.
Forests have always been vital to the survival of mankind, but their preservation does not just benefit one individual: it helps everyone, from the businessman across the world to the poor farmer reliant on the forest’s ecosystem for his livestock’s wellbeing. Whether for food, timber or medicine, forests are important and protecting them ultimately helps improve and benefit the lives of all. By implementing green initiatives today, we are protecting the people of Latin America from the inevitable damage that comes from cutting down just one more tree.
– Nikki Schaffer
Sources: FAO, World Bank
Photo: World Bank
Whiz Kids Workshop Bridges Educational Gaps
Whiz Kids Workshop, a nonprofit located in Ethiopia, uses media to educate children who do not have access to schooling. The organization has created three shows called Tsehai Loves Learning, Involve Me-Watch Me and Little Investigators that educate children on the fundamentals of learning. They use media and technology to promote literacy, health education and gender equality.
Whiz Kids Workshop was founded in 2005 by a husband and wife team who were inspired to help young children prepare for primary school in rural Ethiopia. Because the Ethiopian government does not have enough money to provide learning materials to children in preschools or kindergartens, many children miss out on basic education that prepares them for higher level schooling. Whiz Kids Workshop bridges this gap by providing young students with educational television programs, fundamental learning materials, storybooks and workbooks.
Their television show, Tsehai Loves Learning, had been expanded to movie screenings and DVDs all over Ethiopia. The show uses animation and puppets to present research based facts to their target audience of children ages 3 through 9. Topics covered by the show range from public health and ethics to literacy and preparing children for school.
Involve Me-Watch Me was the first Ethiopian television program for youths ages 9 through 15. As of 2013, Whiz Kids Workshop has published over 30 educational storybooks and produced 32 radio show episodes based on this show. These books and shows have been distributed in 115 schools.
Little Investigators promotes scientific learning in a fun way and is the first Ethiopian show to do so. The show is targeted toward teenagers and aims to introduce the scientific method and how it can be used to analyze global warming, current issues and much more.
As of right now, the organization is producing their fourth show, Girls in Red, an animated series created especially for adolescent girls. The show tackles issues like child marriages, health issues like HIV and practicing safe sex. According to the United Nation’s campaign, Girl Up, only 38 percent of females ages 15 to 24 are literate, 20 percent of girls are married before the age of 15 and 12 percent of girls within this age range are mothers or pregnant with their first child. Young girls in Ethiopia are also seven times more likely to be HIV positive than males. Girls in Red is in the process of being produced with the goal to reduce these numbers and help young, Ethiopian females live healthier and smarter lives.
– Julia Hettiger
Sources: Whiz Kids Workshop, Fast Company, Tadias
Photo: Fast Company
World Food Program Increases Food Assistance to Syrians
As fighting persists in Syria, life for the population remains a struggle and food security a challenge. Millions of people have been affected amid the escalating violence and the situation is rapidly deteriorating. The U.S. has announced a contribution of $65 million dollars to the World Food Program, which is operating within the Syrian borders.
The armed conflict in Syria, also called the Syrian Civil War, has been ongoing for years since unrest began in 2011. In the wake of the Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurred across the Arab world. What began as protests against the government gradually morphed into a rebellion after a violent military force used by President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
As of January 2015, the death toll in Syria had risen above 220,000 and approximately 6 million people have been displaced, cut off from basic human needs such as water, food and electricity.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is giving $65 million dollars to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to achieve their goal of providing food assistance to 4 million starving people inside the country and 1.6 million more in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt.
In Syria, the WFP has been running dangerously low on funding but the money infusion from USAID will keep the WFP afloat and operating through November preventing what could have been a complete shutdown.
The U.S. being the biggest donor to the Syrian crisis has contributed more than $4 billion dollars overall, allowing millions of needy families within Syria and those affected outside access to food and clean water.
According to USAID, the U.S. has now given more than $1.2 billion to the WFP for its Syrian operations – including more than $530 million for operations inside Syria and more than $693 million for operations benefiting Syrian refugees.
Although USAID has donated billions to the WPF, the international community has for the most part dropped the ball, forcing the WFP to devalue their food vouchers by half to refugees and lowered the amount of food in monthly household parcels inside Syria. USAID and the WFP continues to reach out to other governments hoping to rally more support and pressure them to take more actions.
In a press release by USAID on Friday, July 31, 2015, Dina Esposito, Director of USAID’s Office of Food for Peace said, “we have heard tragic stories of hungry refugees returning to war-torn Syria and taking children out of school to beg.” He continued, “We hope this new funding will help mitigate such difficult choices and help Syrians as the winter months approach.”
In war torn Syria, families are fleeing what were once their homes, desperately seeking safety. Starving and suffering from illness, people are getting life-saving food, water and medical care, thanks to the WFP and the disaster averting financial rescue from USAID.
– Jason Zimmerman
Sources: USAID, Reuters
Photo: Huffington Post
Healthy Eating in Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and has been on the rise for many years. Along with a rise in overall GDP and standard of living, experts have found a rise in obesity levels. This trend has come to be associated with countries that are rapidly developing as snack foods have become a symbol of wealth and locally grown produce is seen as cheap and unrefined. Bela Gil, daughter of one of Brazil’s most famous singers, Gilbert Gil, recently posted a photo of her daughters’ lunchbox, and this created an uproar.
The young girls’ lunchbox contained fresh food, yams, bananas and more, all locally grown and in proper portion size, her daughter was being fed well and with Brazil recently being named the nation with the best health reforms, it would usually be something worthy of praise. Instead, the internet reprimanded Gil, saying that she was not feeding her daughter enough and making jokes about how little food there was and how unrefined it was. The truth is that was a great meal because it was so unrefined, in the processed sense of the word.
This healthy farm to table style of eating has only recently gained popularity, and with more and more celebrities jumping on board to endorse healthy eating, it is a wonder it has not been more popular. By posting pictures of her daughters’ healthy meal and various other meals, Gil is using her position of influence to proposition the public to really watch what they are eating. While fast food and highly processed snacks with name brands may be a sign of wealth they are also the cause of Brazil‘s increased obesity rate which has nearly doubled in the past decade.
While we often associate poverty with a complete lack of food, we must also begin to connect it to an abundance of unhealthy food. Overall health can be an indicator of a country’s poverty levels and Brazil’s is on the steep decline. In order to remedy this, individuals of influence must begin to associate wealth with healthy eating and good health habits. By posting pictures of this and promoting healthy portion size and control we are promoting healthy living, saying that class can be found in the food choices we make. Essentially, in order to take away the stigma of wealth and junk food we must reassociate it to wealth and health food.
While many other celebrities are joining this bandwagon, some coming under similar scrutiny for their choices, it may take some time for this new idea of healthy living to really take hold in nations that are just reaching the peak of their development, such as Brazil. These healthy meals are grown in the farms of Brazil, supporting local business and people in the neighborhood, and these choices will not only make for a better person, but a better community as a whole.
– Sumita Tellakat
Sources: NPR, CNN
Photo: NPR
Financing Global Health Through UNITAID
Finding ways to fund global health programs can be tricky. Private sources of funding are difficult to secure, and raising taxes or increasing national budgets is sometimes politically untenable. That’s why UNITAID, a broadly supported organization that emphasizes innovative financing, is starting to gain some traction.
In early 2005, several countries including France, Germany, Brazil, Chile and Spain commissioned studies to develop efficient ways to fund the global health benchmarks set forth in the Millennium Development Goals. In September of that year, during a U.N. conference on that same topic in France, then-president Jacques Chirac declared a levy on French airline ticket sales that would finance a drug-purchasing program.
Shortly thereafter, UNITAID was founded by France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Chile. This organization’s focus is the effective treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis via innovative financing methods. But what is innovative financing? In this context, innovative financing is essentially any low-impact, targeted tax which is aimed at funding global health programs.
The aforementioned airline ticket levy was the earliest example of such a tax. The levy is designed to be a robust, stable public funding source that doesn’t affect business. And indeed, the levy has been a great success in France. The modest €1 per ticket levy manages to raise about €160 million in revenue per year and did not experience much fluctuation after the global financial crisis in 2008. And a report by the French National Assembly in 2011 found that the levy had “no negative effect on traffic or on air sector jobs.”
Not all of the 29 states who support UNITAID have implemented an airline ticket levy (thus far only Chile, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger and South Korea have implemented these measures). However, other measures have been proposed or implemented which achieve the same effect. For example, Norway sets aside a portion of its taxes on carbon to UNITAID.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPussmAv47Y
Another innovation developed by France in 2012 is the financial transaction tax, or FTT. The FTT is a negligible fee attached to any sale of a financial instrument such as a bond or stock. The tax is designed to have no effect on the volume of financial exchanges, yet is capable of raising huge amounts of revenue in countries who sustain many financial transactions. In fact, the idea of an FTT is not a new one; famous 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes was a proponent of implementing FTTs to discourage financial speculation. Many countries already have FTTs for this reason. UNITAID simply proposes that revenue from FTTs be applied towards financing global health initiatives.
In September 2014, UNITAID developed another financing method: the taxation of extractive resources such as oil. The Republic of Congo agreed to a tax on oil, and UNITAID hopes that other African nations will follow suit. The revenue from these taxes will be set aside to reduce malnutrition, which is a leading cause of death among children.
While finding innovative sources of funding is UNITAID’s primary role, the organization also seeks market solutions towards the more effective distribution of medicines for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria. They accomplish this by channeling funds towards identifying and promoting improved health commodities, expanding the market potential for low-profit medicines and making their distribution more efficient and inexpensive. The idea is that medicines and medical tests need to be less expensive and easier to distribute so they can reach a greater number of people.
There are no silver bullets when it comes to financing global health. Funding needs to come from a variety of consistent sources, and it needs to be dispersed efficiently. National spending on foreign aid continues to have the greatest funding potential; the $2.5 billion raised by the airline ticket levy in 8 years just doesn’t measure up to the $30 billion that the United States spends on foreign aid every year. Even so, every bit of funding matters, and to solve global health issues, it’s going to require every innovative solution available.
– Derek Marion
Sources: Huffington Post, UNITAID, World Bank, OECD
Photo: Comunica Extend