Usher, Half Moon Run, Metric, Grimes, and Charlotte Cardin will headline a free concert in Montreal to raise awareness of the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, international advocacy organization Global Citizen announced today.
The September 17 concert in support of the Global Fund to End AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at Montreal’s Bell Centre arena, will also be attended by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
The concert will be taking place following the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Montreal, on September 16, 2016. The pledging conference hosted by Trudeau will aim to further mobilize efforts to end the world’s three most deadliest diseases by 2030.
“This concert is a rallying call – especially to young people around the world – to take action against HIV, TB and malaria,” said in a statement Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund. “We’ve made tremendous progress and now this can be the generation to put an end to these epidemics for good.”
Trudeau announced in May that Canada is pledging $785 million to the Global Fund, for the next three years, a 20 per cent increase from its previous pledge three years ago. This investment is expected to make a significant contribution to the goal of saving an additional 8 million lives and averting an additional 300 million new infections by 2019, according to fund officials.
Canada has committed more than $2.1 billion to the Global Fund since the Fund’s inception in 2002, including $650 million for 2014-2016, according to the numbers released by the fund.
“Global Citizen is looking forward to working with Prime Minister Trudeau and the administration to eradicate HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria,” said Hugh Evans, Global Citizen’s CEO. “Canada’s leadership in support of the Global Fund will have a lasting effect for the world’s poor for many generations and we encourage leaders from across the globe to follow the Canadian example.”
Tickets to the concert are free but fans will have to earn their way in by joining the Global Citizen movement at www.globalcitizen.org/canada and completing a five-step online process.
The concert, which will be broadcast live on Bell Fibe TV1 and live streamed at iHeartRadio.ca at 7 p.m. ET, will be hosted by Patrick Langlois, Kweku Mandela, Maripier Morin and George Stroumboulopoulos.
“After two years away from Canada I’m looking forward to getting back in September to support this very important event,” Usher said in a statement. “Justin Trudeau and Canada’s leadership in education and global health is something for the rest of the world to pay attention to.”
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