Fiji declares national HIV crisis

Fiji has declared a national HIV crisis due to the virus spreading through sexual transmission and illicit drug use. Approximately one in every 60 adults in the Pacific nation is now infected with HIV, a stark increase from one in 167 five years prior. Health Minister Atonio Lalabalavu declared the emergency, acknowledging the urgency of the situation and the need for a comprehensive government response.

New HIV diagnoses in 2025 rose to 2,016 cases, sixteen times the number recorded in 2019. An estimated two in every 100 pregnant women carry the virus, resulting in 18 of the 59 HIV-infected babies born that year dying before their first birthday. The government pledged to expand access to free HIV testing, prevention services, and treatment, including rapid testing, prevention medicine for high-risk individuals, harm-reduction measures for drug users, and free treatment for those diagnosed with HIV.

Fiji is also receiving external support from Australia, New Zealand, India, the Global Fund, and the United Nations.

UNAIDS welcomed Fiji's plans to introduce legislation for a needle and syringe programme, noting the country still has the opportunity to change the course of the epidemic. Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS director for the Asia and Pacific regions, called for stronger cooperation across the Pacific and sustained international solidarity to reinforce the national effort and accelerate action.

HIV transmission rates surged around 2019 when a group of very high-risk injecting drug users emerged, primarily within the sex worker community.