Montreal concert aims to end AIDS, malaria and TB
US R&B star Usher and Canadian indie rock groups Metric and Half Moon Run will headline a free concert in Montreal next month aimed at ending AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Advocacy group Global Citizen, the concert sponsor, said the September 17 show would be held at the city's Bell Centre a day after an international donor conference to raise money for the fight against the epidemics.
Global Citizen said that some 10,000 tickets will be distributed to anyone who has helped in the fight by signing a petition or writing to a lawmaker to urge them to support the fund.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to attend the concert.
Trudeau is hosting the Global Fund Replenishment conference in Montreal on September 16.
The fund is mainly supported by governments and spends nearly US$4 billion annually in its fight to eradicate HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by 2030.
The organization has set a fund-raising target of US$13 billion for its next three-year cycle, from 2017 to 2019.
Canada has already pledged about US$600 million for the coming three years. Other countries that have offered aid include Japan, at US$800 million, and France, at US$1 billion.