• 
• 
• 

  Unitaid is hosted by the World Health Organization.

Welcome Letter from the Managing Director

Dear visitor and MASSIVEGOOD supporter,

As Managing Director of the Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health, I welcome you to our website.

You may be wondering why we at the Foundation, as creators of MASSIVEGOOD, are launching another fundraising project among the many charities that already exist. In 2000, the international community set 8 goals for development to be reached by 2015 – the Millennium Development Goals. While there has been some progress, much remains to be done to reduce poverty and improve health in developing countries. Health is one area where the international community may actually fail to reach its objectives. Each and every one of us has an obligation to do our part to improve global health. 

We hear the statistics, but do they sink in: the number of people who die every year from HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Every 30 seconds a person dies from Malaria, every 15 seconds a person dies from Tuberculosis, every 13 seconds a person dies from HIV/AIDS. These diseases are treatable, and the time has come to make a bigger impact to help in the fight against them.

Through MASSIVEGOOD, together we can make a difference in closing the gap to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015. MASSIVEGOOD is the opportunity for citizens to join a massive solidarity movement to help alleviate a systemic health crisis that has become worse with the spread of diseases despite the fact that they can be treated. MASSIVEGOOD will start with travel services, allowing travellers to make a $/€/£ 2 micro-contribution through a simple click each time they purchase a travel service.

MASSIVEGOOD is built on partnerships and collaborations. It is the first world-wide Public Private Partnership in the Travel and Tourism Industry to support such an important cause. As such, this partnership shows that the private sector supports finding innovative ways for additional needed funding to provide more and better resources to help the poorest of the world.

I thank our core partners, Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, and Mondial Assistance, without whom it would not have been possible to develop and deploy the technology. The World Travel and Tourism Council has also been a key advocate for MASSIVEGOOD to help bring new partners on board. Special thanks to UNITAID, who has supported us from the very beginning in finding new, innovative ways to fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We are grateful to the other supporters of MASSIVEGOOD: Voyageurs du Monde, RBS-Bibit, American Express, Opodo, Carlson WagonLit and Accor. Finally a special thank to our staff, whose strong commitment has helped to make MASSIVEGOOD become a reality.

The success of the MASSIVEGOOD announcement during an event hosted by the Taskforce on Innovative Finance for Health Systems at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23^rd has been our first milestone. It has shown the world how massive the potential of initiative could be in saving lives.  Our second milestone will be seeing just how many people want to be part of the MASSIVEGOOD movement: from  top management and staff in the travel and tourism industry, to volunteers in Health-Related NGO’s, and just normal citizens of the world. Our collective and final victory will be to succeed in helping to provide more efficient and innovative health solutions to the populations that desperately need them: this is the greatest challenge that is ahead of us and the essence of the MASSIVEGOOD spirit. Together, we can improve global health: one click at a time.

We can and we will make a massive difference: JOIN MASSIVEGOOD!

Sincerely,

Bernard Salomé

Managing Director

Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health