Brazil, France Hope To Launch Drug Purchase Facility, Including Airline Ticket Tax, by September
Officials from Brazil and France on Friday said they hope to have an international drug purchase facility -- which aims to help developing countries buy HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria medicines -- operating on an initial $300 million annual budget by September, the Financial Times reports. The facility will be financed through a tax on airline tickets (Williams, Financial Times, 4/22). Brazil and France are among thirteen countries that in March agreed to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs. The French Parliament in January passed a measure that will add a tax of up to $47 on tickets for travelers departing from French airports. French President Jacques Chirac in January 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, first announced the idea for the tax. The other 12 countries -- Brazil, Britain, Chile, Congo, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua and Norway -- that agreed to impose the tax will individually decide on tax amounts (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/2). World Health Organization Director-General Lee Jong-wook said the agency fully supported the initiative, which would work through organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The facility initially will focus on pediatric HIV/AIDS medications, prevention of vertical HIV transmission, and the costs of second-line HIV/AIDS drugs and malaria medicines (Financial Times, 4/22).
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