Monrovia — President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Tuesday received a proposal from the head of UNITAID, a United Nations entity, for Liberia to play a role in an innovative project to finance development and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The President was also invited to join the UN Secretary-General and other world leaders in a campaign related to the MDGs, in connection with the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Goals, scheduled for September.

The proposal was presented to President Sirleaf by Mr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, UN Under-Secretary-General and Chairman of the Executive Board of UNITAID. Mr. Douste-Blazy spoke of the widening gap between developed and developing countries in the health area, and said UNITAID had come up with new thinking on how to address the problem.

UNITAID's innovative thinking entailed imposing a small levy on plane tickets in order to raise funds to prevent and treat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria in developing countries. UNITAID supported programs in 93 countries -- 80 percent of them in Africa. These included the development of pediatric drugs; funding of UNICEF programs dealing with pregnant women; financing of 20 million bed nets in 2009 and subsidizing the cost associated with a new but expensive anti-malarial drug.

Mr. Douste-Blazy recalled that, at the UN General Assembly in 2006, some 40 Heads of State and Government had committed to impose the ticket tax, and so far 16 countries had passed it into law. In three years in France alone, he said, US$1.5 billion had been raised for UNITAID activities, and the tax had been "painless" to French travelers. He noted that in Cannes, in 2006, Liberia had signed a commitment to the UNITAID process.

Concerning her participation in the MDG campaign, President Sirleaf, responding, said she was already involved in various health initiatives. Her Government's commitment to the health sector was strong. She had committed to provide free basic health care for all in all Government public health facilities. Continuing, the President noted that malaria remains a big problem in Liberia, so the fact that UNITAID was addressing that health issue was a good thing. The innovative mechanism would be examined in this light.

Also present at the meeting the President held with Under-Secretary-General Douste-Blazy were: H.E. Olubanke King-Akerele, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Edward B. McClain, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs; and the Ambassador of France to Liberia, H.E. Gérard Larôme.