Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
Earthquake Shakes Iran, Dozens Killed
“A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed 32 and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said. Authorities said it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region. The report said the earthquake struck the town of Kaki some 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, a town on the Persian Gulf that is home of Iran’s first nuclear power plant, built with Russian help.” (Yahoo! http://yhoo.it/10RG1TQ)
Global Fund Appeals for $15 Billion Over Three Years
At a donors’ conference in Brussels yesterday, the Global Fund set a high bar for its replenishment. “Together with other funding, including an estimated US$37 billion from domestic sources in implementing countries and US$24 billion from other international sources, a US$15 billion contribution to the Global Fund would allow the collective work to address close to 90 percent of the global resource needs to fight these three diseases, estimated at a total of US$87 billion.” (Global Fund)
US Budget Cuts Threaten Global Health Progress
InterAction issued a new brief warning of the backsliding of health and development gains caused by continued budget cuts.“Sustained US investments in global health programs and health systems strengthening are crucial – health problems will only be more expensive and more difficult to resolve in the future, especially with the rise of non-communicable diseases (cancer, lung and heart-disease and diabetes) in all populations,” the brief says. (IPS http://bit.ly/16Qhxv8)