UN to ask world travellers to donate USD 2 to fight disease

New York, March 3: The UN Thursday will unveil a simple "citizen solution" under which each traveller around the world would be asked to donate USD 2 to a fund to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The MassiveGood plan, to be launched at UN headquarters by former US president Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, will collect funds to boost treatment for the three diseases in developing countries and improve maternal and child health.

The USD 2-campaign will be propagated through travel agencies and on websites such as Travelocity and Accor Hotels, the UN said.

Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation, and Ban will Thursday access the website www.massivegood.org and click on MassiveGood to each donate USD 2 when they launch the new fund-raising scheme.

The UN said MassiveGood was created by the Millennium Foundation and donors, and will raise awareness of "citizen solutions" to meeting the UN goal of reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 and other goals like universal education for all children, halving poverty and reducing maternal and infant mortality by the same year.