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A senior UN official is urging India
to join a program in which a small tax on airline tickets helps buy discounted
medicines to treat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB in developing nations. Chile,
Brazil, France, Mali, Mauritius, Madagascar, Cameroon, Congo, Niger, and South
Korea currently participate in UNITAID, which launched in 2006 and generates
$200 million annually.
UNITAID Executive Director Denis
Broun said a small contribution that is “painless to the traveler” could go a
long way. “Since air traffic is very high in India, the small amount of levy
makes a huge difference to the amount of drugs that we can purchase and the
number of poor who can benefit from them,” he said.
According to UNITAID, HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis kill 4.4 million people each year. Nearly 14.2
million people worldwide need antiretrovirals, and more than half cannot afford
them.
India’s airlines are $20 billion in
debt and lost $2 billion last year alone due to high fuel costs, a weakening
rupee, and competition that has kept fares low and costs high. However, the
country has the fastest-growing air passenger market of major economies, with
61 million traveling last year.
Broun met civil aviation and health
officials and proposed a tax of 10 rupees (US $.18) on domestic tickets and US
$1 on international flights. Participating would be a win-win situation for
India, he noted, since 80 percent of the drugs bought by UNITAID are from
Indian pharmaceutical firms, and “35,000 Indian children are treated for HIV
using drugs paid for by UNITAID.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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