Posted by Chinenye on Thu 17th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
Fiji is facing a serious HIV outbreak after health officials reported a huge rise in new cases.
(Fiji's health services. Photo by BBC news)
Fiji has announced a nationwide HIV crisis as the virus spreads rapidly through sexual contact and injecting drug use, infecting roughly one in every 60 adults across the Pacific island nation.
Health Minister Atonio Lalabalavu formally declared the emergency on Wednesday, acknowledging the scale of the outbreak and pledging a coordinated government response.
New diagnoses jumped to 2,016 cases in 2025, a sixteenfold increase from 2019 levels.
The infection rate among adults has climbed sharply from one in 167 five years ago to the current one in 60.
The situation has proven particularly severe among pregnant women, with two in every 100 carrying the virus.
Of 59 babies born with HIV last year, 18 died before reaching their first birthday.
The government is expanding access to free testing, prevention drugs for high-risk groups, harm-reduction services for people who use drugs, and treatment for those diagnosed.
Fiji is receiving backing from Australia, New Zealand, India, the Global Fund and the United Nations in the effort.
Among documented cases, sexual transmission accounts for more than half while injecting drug use drives over 42 percent of infections.
The outbreak gained momentum around 2019 when a group of heavy drug users emerged primarily in sex worker communities.
Fiji sits as a transit hub for drugs flowing from Latin America and Asia to lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand.
Supply of methamphetamine and cocaine surged sharply after pandemic lows, with foreign criminal networks increasingly paying local accomplices in drugs rather than cash, seeping supplies into Fiji's domestic market.
UN officials say Fiji still has time to reverse the epidemic's trajectory with stronger regional cooperation and sustained international support.