U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday “appealed to philanthropists to ‘make a smart investment in the world’s future’ by joining the United Nations in accelerating the fight against five of the most deadly infectious diseases which kill millions of people every year,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “‘Today we have the power and the knowledge to wipe out deaths from five of the world’s biggest health threats: malaria, polio, tetanus, measles and HIV infections in newborns,’ [Ban] told the Second Annual Forbes 400 Summit, which took place at U.N. Headquarters in New York,” the news service writes. “While there has been progress on many of these diseases, most notably polio, malaria and HIV infections, [Ban] stressed that increased engagement from the private sector and the philanthropic community is needed to keep the world on track to a prosperous path” (6/5). Ban also “requested $1 million yearly in the next three to five years to acquire vaccines to eradicate cholera in Haiti,” Prensa Latina notes (6/5).