40 Years Back When First Few People In Mumbai And Bangkok Were Diagnosed With HIV – OpEd

Credit: Citizen News Service

 June 30, 2025  0 Comments

By Shobha Shukla

Although world is not on track to end AIDS by 2030 but it is no less than a miracle when we take into account the scientific and community-led progress which has powered the global AIDS response since 1981 – when for the first time AIDS was reported in the world.

In lead up to world’s largest HIV science conference (13th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025), let us remember when first few people with HIV were diagnosed in Mumbai, India and Thailand. CNS (Citizen News Service) spoke with Dr Ishwar Gilada from India (who is credited to establish India’s first AIDS Clinic in 1986) and Dr Praphan Phanuphak from Thailand, both of whom are widely known to help diagnose first people with HIV.

40 years back, Dr Ishwar Gilada, India’s longest serving HIV medical expert was working as a senior consultant at government-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai, India. News reports of 1980s show that he was actively campaigning amongst sex workers to encourage them on protecting themselves from sexually transmitted infections including HIV. Noted filmstar Sunit Dutt and several other known personalities had also joined his crusade. Noted journalists Jayashree Shetty and Gopal Shetty have co-authored a 2023 book: “The Blunting Of An Epidemic: A Courageous War On AIDS” chronicling Dr Gilada’s tireless and courageous crusade against AIDS for over four decades.

First three HIV infections were in sex workers from Mumbai’s Kamathipura in 1985

Dr Gilada said: “We were doing active disease surveillance in Mumbai’s sex work area, Kamathipura. In December 1985, three of the blood samples drawn from sex workers tested positive for HIV. One of them was a transgender person. I tested them at the Skin and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Department, JJ Hospital on kits donated by Abbott Laboratories in December 1985. The first HIV clinic in India was established in JJ Hospital by me on 5th March 1986.”

“But confirmation of our HIV tests had to be done at government’s National Institute of Virology in Pune in January 1986. However, Dr Khorshed M Pavri, then Director of National Institute of Virology, chose to withhold results. Dr Pavri came personally to collect fresh blood samples of people presumptive for HIV. I had to get all 6 sex workers to come to JJ Hospital once again to give their blood samples to Dr Pavri. She then sent samples to CDC Atlanta, USA, which caused inordinate delays in providing confirmation. Dr Pavri then published her scientific article, “First HIV culture in Indian patients” where I am listed as a co-author along with Dr Jeanette J Rodrigues,” shared Dr Gilada. Dr Pavri was India’s first virologist, as well as first woman Director of National Institute of Virology.

In clinical practice, Dr Gilada’s first clinical HIV case was of a German national who was referred to him from Goa Medical College in July 1987. He recollects the first Indian national with HIV who came to his clinic – a former sex worker who had stopped sex work in 1979. She was under his medical care but despite best of efforts, she could not be saved and died of AIDS in JJ Hospital. Her postmortem examination confirmed she had HIV and abdominal TB. This was also the first postmortem examination in India of a person positive for HIV. It was done by Dr DN Lanjewar in 1988.

Flashback: When first HIV cases were diagnosed in Thailand

“I was accidentally involved in HIV/AIDS arena. I am not an infectious disease doctor, but an allergist and clinical immunologist trained in USA. The first patient, an American gay man living in Thailand, was referred to me at King Chulalongkorn Hospital in October 1984 to investigate the cause of his recurrent muco-cutaneous infection. Immunologic investigations revealed that his T-helper cell numbers and T-cell functions were moderately low, but no diagnosis was made. In February 1985 the patient was admitted into the hospital with confirmed diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and his T-cell numbers and functions were further deteriorated. With the diagnosis of PCP and severe T-cell defect, AIDS was diagnosed at that time,” said Dr Praphan Phanuphak, a living legend who helped shape Thailand’s HIV response since the first few AIDS cases got diagnosed in the land of smiles in 1985.

Dr Praphan Phanuphak is a distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. Together with late Professors Joep Lange and David Cooper, Prof Praphan co-founded HIV-NAT (the HIV Netherlands, Australia, Thailand Research Collaboration), Asia’s first HIV clinical trials centre in Bangkok in 1996. Prof Praphan served as the Director of the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre for 31 years (1989-2020) and is currently the Senior Research and Policy Advocacy Advisor of the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok as well as the Advisor of HIV-NAT.

Dr Phanuphak shared: “During the same month, a Thai male sex worker was referred to Chulalongkorn Hospital because of multi-organ cryptococcal infection. His T-cell numbers and T-cell functions were also severely impaired. AIDS was diagnosed in this second patient since he had sexual contact with a foreign man who had sex with men. The girlfriend of this patient was asymptomatic but had generalised lymphadenopathy, Her T-cell numbers and functions were moderately impaired. This patient was counted as the third case. Sera collected from these 3 patients were tested for HIV in May 1985 when the anti-HIV test kit was available in Thailand. All were HIV-positive. These are the first 3 HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed in Thailand, all in February 1985. With the increasing availability of HIV test in Thailand, more and more patients were diagnosed. This accidentally drove me deeper and deeper into the HIV field, coupled with the fact that there were not very many infectious disease doctors in the early days who were willing to see HIV patients.”

Way forward towards ending AIDS

Dr Phanuphak’s and Dr Gilada’s lifetime contribution and continuing guidance to shaping HIV responses is commendable.

Governments have promised to end AIDS by 2030. Ending AIDS means that all people living with HIV should have viral load undetectable (so that they can live normal healthy lives and there is zero risk of any infection spread from them as per the WHO). In addition, all people in all their diversities, must have access to full range of science-based HIV combination prevention options in a person-centred and rights-based manner. But global AIDS response is slipping and is off the mark. With recent funding cuts, it becomes even more challenging to ensure that HIV response gets on track to end AIDS. But if we are to deliver on the promises enshrined in SDGs and #HealthForAll, then ending AIDS is clearly a human rights imperative.

Shobha Shukla

Shobha Shukla co-leads the editorial content of CNS (Citizen News Service) and is on the governing board of Global Antimicrobial Resistance Media Alliance (GAMA) and Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media).

BURN BABY BURN

Burning Trash For Energy, People And Planet – OpEd

 June 30, 2025  

By Paul Driessen

Waste-to-Energy reduces landfilling, increases recycling, powers society and avoids blackouts

After years of opposing them, but facing constituents increasingly angry about rising electricity prices, New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently gave grudging support for two new Williams Companies natural gas pipelines.

Assuming they clear new hurdles, the Constitution Pipeline will transport gas 100+ miles from northeastern Pennsylvania fracking fields toward Albany. The 23-mile Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline will connect New York to the New Jersey segment of the Transco Pipeline, America’s largest-volume natural gas pipeline system, and carry enough gas to heat 2.3 million homes.

Hochul, other state Democrats and environmental activists have long stymied the projects, using exaggerated and fabricated water quality and climate change arguments – and fanciful expectations that heavily subsidized solar panels and onshore and offshore wind turbines can provide enough affordable electricity, enough of the time, to meet steadily increasing New York City and State power demands.

In exchange, the Trump Administration will let them continue installing gigantic offshore wind turbines that will generate 9,000 MW of electricity (less than one-third of what the state needs on hot summer days) perhaps 30-40% of the year … and be supported by fire-prone grid-scale batteries that would provide statewide backup power for about 45 minutes.

New gas turbines would help avoid blackouts, ensure that poor families freeze less often in winter and swelter less in summer, and help the state meet power needs that are soaring because of data centers, artificial intelligence, and legislatively mandated conversions from gasoline and gas to electric vehicles, stoves, and home and water heating.

They could also help reduce the need to import electricity from Canada and other states: some 36,000 gigawatt-hours (11% of statewide electricity) annually.

But legislators want to put another hurdle in the way. New legislation would force homes and businesses to pay $10,000 or more to connect to natural gas lines. If Gov. Hochul signs the bill, or the legislature overrides a veto, few or no new customers would take advantage of the new gas.

It’s a kill switch, reflecting the state’s determination to impose “climate leadership” and “protect communities” from alleged dangers from fossil fuels.

It’s also hypocritical and irresponsible. New York doesn’t just import electricity; it also exports garbage.

New York City generates nearly eight million tons of waste annually. Its last municipal incinerator closed in 1990; its last municipal landfill in 2001. City trash is now mostly sent on barges, trucks and trains to landfills (80%) and incinerators (20%) in New Jersey, Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and even Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina! NY State exports 30% of its garbage.

The city and state could address both garbage and electricity challenges by using natural gas to power waste-to-energy (WTE) generating plants that burn trash, thereby reducing the need to landfill or export garbage, while increasing recycling, producing reliable, affordable, much-needed electricity, and reducing blackout risks that are climbing every year.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, a WTE or resource recovery facility operated by Reworld Waste burns home, business, industrial and other garbage that doesn’t go straight into recycling programs and would typically be landfilled, including myriad extraneous plastics. The trash is dumped in a receiving area, sorted for unacceptable materials like rocks, mixed thoroughly, and burned with natural gas in a chamber at 2000 degrees F for up to two hours, until it’s totally combusted to ash. 

The heat converts water to steam, which is super-heated in tubes to drive turbines that generate electricity: 80 megawatts 24/7, enough for about 52,000 homes. Depending on its composition, a ton of waste generates 550-700 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Since opening in 1990, the plant’s trash has replaced the equivalent of burning 2,000,000 barrels of oil for electricity every year.

Glass from lightbulbs and other nonrecyclable sources becomes part of the ash stream, from which ferrous and nonferrous metals are recovered. Most of the remaining ash is used as a substitute for sand and aggregates in road and building construction, cement and cinder block production, and manufacturing other building materials.

Unsold ash is landfilled but, by the time the metals are removed, only about 10% of the original trash bulk and 25% of its original weight is left.

Even staples, paper clips, bottle caps, metal light bulb bases, aluminum foil, and wires from spiral notebooks and furnace filters can be “recycled” this way. In fact, enough iron, steel, aluminum, copper and other metals are recovered from the resultant ash at the Fairfax facility to build 20,000 automobiles annually.

However, plastic-metal-glass waste (computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, microwaves), broken pots and pans, household appliances and other larger refuse should go to special “white goods” and metal recycling centers.

Lime neutralizes acids in the airstream, activated carbon controls heavy metals, and fabric filter bags remove particulates, keeping air emissions below EPA standards. The scrubber waste (fly ash) is then dewatered and chemically stabilized, before being landfilled or used in construction materials. 

Process steam condenses back into water and is reused. Water from the wastes and scrubbers is recovered, treated and used to cool the facility and equipment.

Two other trash-to-energy facilities serve the Washington, DC area; 75 across the USA generate over 2,500 MW of electricity. However, more WTE plants could help solve garbage, energy, landfill and pollution problems in metropolitan areas across the country (and worldwide), including:

* Philadelphia, PA – 1,300,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste (MSW), but only one WTE; 
* Chicago, IL – 3,100,000 tpy, but just one WTE plant (other proposed facilities were rejected);
* Houston, TX – 4,200,000 tpy, with one WTE facility;
* Phoenix, AZ – 1,000,000 tpy, and one WTE facility;
* Los Angeles, CA – 4,000,000 tpy, but again only one WTE facility.  

New York and other jurisdictions that have rejected natural gas and waste-to-energy/resource-recovery facilities are missing enormous opportunities to address challenges that will only become worse. They’re also dumping their own local responsibilities into their neighbors’ backyards.

These facilities ensure secure, affordable electricity generation close by, without the need for expensive backup power and multi-hundred-mile transmission lines to part-time wind and solar power.

They utilize fuels that America still has in abundance: gas and trash. And they reduce the need for resources that are in increasingly short supply: landfill space, cropland and wildlife habitats impacted, and bird, bat and other wildlife lost due to wind, solar and transmission installations.

From my perch, these clear and significant benefits clearly offset the cost and subsidyconcerns that some have raised about WTE facilities.

Metro areas and states should apply pragmatism, reality and these benefits when reconsidering climate and “renewable” energy ideologies that have dominated public policies for far too long.

Paul Driessen

Paul Driessen is a senior fellow with the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, nonprofit public policy institutes that focus on energy, the environment, economic development and international affairs. During a 25-year career that included staff tenures with the United States Senate, Department of the Interior and an energy trade association, he has spoken and written frequently on energy and environmental policy, global climate change, corporate social responsibility and other topics. He’s also written articles and professional papers on marine life associated with oil platforms off the coasts of California and Louisiana – and produced a video documentary on the subject.

 

Wildfires Affected 30 Million Hectares In Brazil In 2024

 June 30, 2025

By ABr

By Fabiola Sinimbu

In 2024, fires affected 30 million hectares of Brazil’s territory—the second-largest area burned in the past 40 years, and 62 percent above the average for the 1985–2024 period, according to the Annual Mapping of Land Cover and Use in Brazil (MapBiomas), a project developed since 1985 by a multi-institutional network that includes universities, NGOs, and technology companies.

The data were published on Tuesday (Jun. 24) in the first edition of the Annual Fire Report (RAF) and in Collection 4 of Brazil’s fire scar maps.

Last year, 72 percent of the area burned in Brazil was native vegetation. Forest cover was the hardest hit, with 7.7 million hectares consumed by fire, representing an increase of 287 percent compared to the average of the last four decades.

The Amazon

Studies show that the Amazon was the most hit biome in 2024, with 15.6 million hectares burned—the largest area harmed in the biome throughout the entire historical series. This corresponds to more than half (52%) of the total area consumed by fire in the whole country.

The region was not only the epicenter of burnt areas in the country, exceeding the average of the last 40 years by 117 percent, but also experienced a qualitative change in the type of vegetation altered.

For the first time, forest areas were the most impacted, accounting for 43 percent of the total burned area.

A total of 6.7 million hectares of forest and 5.2 million hectares of pasture were burned. According to the researchers, areas previously converted to pasture have historically been the most damaged, due to the common practice of using fire to clear land before planting pasture.

MapBiomas’ Amazon mapping coordinator, Felipe Martenexen, noted that the region was heavily affected by the El Niño phenomenon in 2023 and 2024, which left the biome drier and more susceptible to fire. However, since the occurrence of natural fires in native vegetation is very low, human action was necessary for the fires to start.

“We believe that inadequate pasture management plays a major role, as fire often escapes and causes forest fires,” explains Martenexen.

Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest also registered a record area burned in 2024, exceeding the historical average by 261 percent. The biome saw 1.2 million hectares exposed to fire and includes four of the ten municipalities with the highest proportion of burned area: Barrinha, Dumont, Pontal, and Pontes Gestal.

Human-modified areas were hit hardest by fire last year, but the burning of natural vegetation also rose compared to the last 20 years.

“When fires occur, they tend to have a significant impact on the scarce forest remnants within the biome,” says Natalia Crusco, from MapBiomas’ Atlantic Forest team.

Pantanal

In 2024, the area burned in the Pantanal increased by 157 percent, representing the highest proportional rise in fire occurrence among all biomes in the country, compared to the historical average.

It was the third year with the largest area burned, totaling 2.2 million hectares. Of this total, 93 percent damaged native vegetation, primarily grasslands, flooded fields, and marshes.

Researcher Eduardo Rosa, MapBiomas’ Pantanal mapping coordinator, explains that fire dynamics in the biome were driven by drought in the Paraguay River region, where natural vegetation is concentrated.

“Although parts of the Pantanal are more adapted to fire, the areas near rivers contain a very complex mosaic of native vegetation that is more vulnerable,” says Rosa.

Cerrado, Caatinga, and Pampa

Last year, fires in the Cerrado accounted for 35 percent of the total area burned in Brazil. A total of 10.6 million hectares were hit—representing a 10 percet increase compared to the historical average of 9.6 million hectares per year.

In 2024, the area burned in the Caatinga decreased by 16 percent, with 404,000 hectares scarred by fire compared to an average of 480,000 hectares over the past 40 years.

In the Pampa, fire impacted a slightly larger area than in 2023, totaling 7,900 hectares—well below the historical average of 15,300 hectares per year. This represents a 48 percent reduction compared to the period analyzed.

Researchers state that the data offer the most comprehensive overview of fire activity across the country and reveal patterns in the occurrence of burn-offs and wildfires.

“The report enables us to support the planning of preventive measures and to direct firefighting efforts more effectively,” concludes Ane Alencar, Science Director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and coordinator of MapBiomas Fogo.

ABr

Agência Brasil (ABr) is the national public news agency, run by the Brazilian government. It is a part of the public media corporation Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), created in 2007 to unite two government media enterprises Radiobrás and TVE (Televisão Educativa).

 

Mixed Outlook For The UN On Its 80th Birthday – OpEd

United Nations flag. Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency

 June 30, 2025  

By Arab News

By Andrew Hammond

The UN celebrated its 80th birthday on Thursday. But Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used the occasion to warn that its founding charter is under assault like never before.

The organization was created out of the trauma of the Second World War, with the UN Charter inked by an initial 50 states on June 26, 1945. It came into force later that year with the aim of trying to prevent future wars, while also upholding human dignity and equal rights.

Guterres warned on Thursday that “we see an all-too-familiar pattern: follow when the charter suits, ignore when it does not. The Charter of the United Nations is not optional. It is not an a la carte menu. It is the bedrock of international relations.”

Of course, countries regularly accuse each other of violating the charter. In recent years, Russia and Israel have been cited by the General Assembly for violating it in Ukraine and Gaza, respectively. Earlier this month, Iran accused the US of breaching the charter with its strikes on three of its nuclear facilities.

Yet, as many challenges as the world body now faces, its 80th birthday underlines that it continues to have resilience and legitimacy. This is despite growing concerns over its relevance in an increasingly contentious, fragmented world.

There is still widespread recognition that global challenges can best be tackled through international, coordinated action, often led by the UN. And despite the deep decay of the post-1945 order, the remaining postwar international institutions — with the UN at their heart — continue to have major relevance almost a century after their birth. While these bodies are imperfect and in need of significant reform, they have generally enabled international prosperity and security, especially with the two most powerful countries in the world today, China and the US, both being permanent members of the Security Council.

The UN’s continuing relevance underlines the wisdom of the critical mass of nations that decided, at that time, to try to change the course of history by committing to work together for peace. In the decades since the signing of the charter, the world body has worked unwaveringly for peace, dialogue and cooperation to promote human rights, the rule of law and sustainable development, as well as fighting climate change.

Given the overall success of the UN after three-quarters of a century, one of the many ironies of the current political era is the sea change in view of the US administration. The UN and fellow multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were key parts of the postwar settlement championed by American presidents in the 1940s and which were subsequently cultivated on a bipartisan basis by successors of every stripe to bolster US global leadership during the Cold War and beyond.

Yet, today’s administration is widely viewed to be hastening the collapse of that same postwar order. This surprises many across the world, given that the post-1945 system has generally been so beneficial for Washington in terms of both soft and hard power.

President Donald Trump, unlike all his postwar predecessors in the White House, has disowned many of the US-led institutions and alliances, promising instead an “America First” platform. On his first day back in power in January, for instance, he signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization.

The UN is also concerned about the expected outcome of a US review of its participation in the UN and other multilateral institutions, which was ordered by Trump and is expected in August. More than 60 UN offices, agencies and operations that get money from the organization’s regular operating budget are already facing job cuts of about 20 percent — part of reforms made by Guterres due to the White House’s already-announced funding cuts and wider developments.

But dismantlement is one thing — building something new is another. Thus far, the administration is yet to forge any comprehensive new doctrine centered on its core vision. Indeed, there has often been policy incoherence, reflecting the president’s transactional style of governing.

However, it is not just the vacuum caused by a lack of US leadership in the UN that is contributing to the uncertainty surrounding both it and the wider erosion of the post-Second World War settlement in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous landscape of 2025. For there is also growing geopolitical angst, as shown by the current tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine, not to mention other conflicts such as those in Sudan, eastern Congo, Haiti and Myanmar.

What makes this so worrying for the UN and other proponents of international peace and security is that it comes on top of layers of previous turbulence in the international landscape. The multiple challenges now confronting the international order include the fact that Washington’s relations with China are at one of their lowest points in decades.

A fundamental driver of whether the UN will thrive, not just survive, in the coming years is the direction of the ties between the US and China, the two most powerful members of the UNSC. With the US exiting the WHO and cutting its funding to other UN agencies, China’s influence will increase.

Right now, the US-China relationship seems set for growing bilateral rivalry and what some see as a new cold war that could see international cooperation erode, including over technology and wider trade issues. Military tensions are also increasing, from the South China Sea outward.

However, there may still be unexpected potential for partnership at the UN and beyond. Bilateral cooperation, possibly in the era after the Trump presidency, is most likely if stronger partnerships can be embedded on issues like climate change, as during the Barack Obama and Joe Biden years, which may enable more effective ways of resolving hard power disputes.

• Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

Arab News

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).