The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health is an independent, non-profit Swiss organization, established in November 2008 in order to create new ways to finance health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Based in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland, the Millennium Foundation aims to ensure that international commitments on improving health care are met through the development of innovative financing projects. Its first such project – called MassiveGood – was launched on 4 March, and will give travelers the possibility to add a $2, £2 or €2 micro-contribution to the purchase of a travel reservation, with all proceeds going to the fight against

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Mission and Activities

In 2000 the United Nations agreed to achieve eight international development goals by the year 2015, called the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

(MDGs). Three of these goals are health related – to treat and fight life-threatening diseases, including

and

; to reduce childhood mortality; and to improve

maternal health Maternal health is the health of people during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. In most cases, maternal health encompasses the health care dimensions of family planning, Pre-conception counseling, preconception, Prenatal care, pr ...

. Despite repeated commitments to the three health-related MDGs and increased funding available for

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

and

still have appalling human and economic consequences in developing countries. Official Development Assistance has been increasing in the past few years but cannot keep up with the damage done by the economic crisis on low- and middle-income countries. In order to bridge this financing gap, the international community has looked into new funding mechanisms. The Taskforce on Innovative International Funding for Health Systems issued in June 2009 a report acknowledging the potential of innovative sources of funding: Innovative Financing projects that have sprouted up in the past decade include Product Red, the International Finance Facility for Immunization, the

Global Fund The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tu ...

, the

GAVI GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a Public–private partnership, public–private global health partnership with the goal of incr ...

and

UNITAID Unitaid is a global health initiative that works with partners to bring about innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases in low- and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS and its deadly co ...

. UNITAID is funded by a small tax on airlines tickets levied in 12 countries and budgetary contributions from 17 countries. Since 2006, UNITAID has committed over US$730 million to support 16 projects in 93 countries.

MassiveGood

MassiveGood, the Millennium Foundation's first innovative finance project, was unveiled at the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

on 23 September 2009 during a meeting of the Task Force for Innovative Finance for Health, spearheaded by UK Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

and World Bank President

Robert Zoellick Robert Bruce Zoellick (; ; born July 25, 1953) is an American public official and lawyer who was the 11th president of the World Bank Group, a position he held from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012.HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

and

. These contributions went to the Spanish Red Cross and

, which has a wide range of partners in developing countries including the

Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

, the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; , ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ex ...

, the

, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership,

Stop TB Partnership The Stop TB Partnership was established in 2001 to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem. Its 2000 partner organizations include international, nongovernmental and governmental organizations and patient groups. The secretariat is base ...

and the

Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

. Additional funding was aimed towards improving maternal and child health in the developing world. Supporters of the project included

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

, Samuel L. Jackson,

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

Yvonne Chaka Chaka Yvonne Chaka Chaka OIS (born Yvonne Machaka on 18 March 1965) is a South African singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, humanitarian and teacher. Dubbed the "Princess of Africa" (on a 1990 tour), Chaka Chaka has been at the forefront of South Afric ...

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...

and

Brian Greene Brian Randolph Greene (born February 9, 1963) is an American physicist known for his research on string theory. He is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its center for theoretical physics, and the cha ...

. MassiveGood was launched on 4 March 2010 in the US, and successfully rolled out in Spain in June 2010. It was discontinued by the Board of the Millennium Foundation on 4 November 2011, citing insufficient returns "for such a micro-philanthropy initiative in today’s economic climate".

Structure

The Millennium Foundation is a public-private initiative governed by a Board composed of representatives of participating Governments, such as the United Kingdom, France,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, Brazil,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and a representative of the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

; representatives of NGOs working on

and of communities living with diseases; and representatives of the

Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

and of the private sector. The UN

serves on the board as an observer. The Board of the Millennium Foundation is chaired by Dr.

Philippe Douste-Blazy Philippe Douste-Blazy (; born 1 January 1953) is a French United Nations official and former centre-right politician. Over the course of his career, he served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Adviser on Innovative Financi ...

, who currently serves as Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development to the United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

, and also acts as Chairman of the Board of

. Mr. Henk Mulder is the Managing Director and leads the strategic vision for the Foundation.

References

External links

The Millennium Foundation

UNITAID

MASSIVEGOOD
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214064608/http://news.massivegood.org/? , date=14 December 2009 HIV/AIDS organizations Malaria organizations Tuberculosis organizations International medical and health organizations International organisations based in Switzerland

Mission and Activities

MassiveGood

Structure

See also

References

External links