Fiji declares HIV a national crisis

Health

Politics

Jason CrossJournalist at Jamaica Observer

September 17, 2026

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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)—Fiji has declared a national HIV crisis as sexual transmission and illicit drug use help to spread the virus, now infecting an estimated one in 60 adults in the Pacific nation.

New HIV diagnoses surged to 2,016 cases in 2025 — 16 times the level recorded in 2019, authorities said, vowing a “whole of government” response.

“I am formally declaring a national HIV emergency in Fiji,” Health Minister Atonio Lalabalavu told reporters on Wednesday.

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