Fiji has declared a national HIV emergency after new infections surged sharply, with health authorities linking the rise largely to sexual transmission and injecting drug use.
Fiji’s Health Minister, Atonio Lalabalavu, announced the declaration on Wednesday, warning that the country needed an urgent and coordinated response to the growing epidemic.
“I am formally declaring a national HIV emergency in Fiji,” Lalabalavu said.
“This decision recognises the seriousness of the epidemic and the urgent, coordinated response our country now needs.”
According to the government, new HIV diagnoses rose to 2,016 cases in 2025, representing a 16-fold increase from the number recorded in 2019.
The prevalence of HIV has also increased significantly. Authorities estimate that about one in every 60 adults in Fiji is now living with HIV, compared with one in 167 five years earlier.
The government also reported that about two per cent of pregnant women are living with the virus.
In 2025, 59 babies were born with HIV, while 18 of them died before reaching their first birthday.
In response to the crisis, the government said it was expanding access to free HIV testing, prevention services and treatment.
The measures include rapid testing, preventive medication for people at higher risk, harm-reduction services for people who inject drugs and free treatment for people diagnosed with HIV.
Fiji is also receiving support from Australia, New Zealand, India, the Global Fund and the United Nations.
Data from UNAIDS showed that among HIV cases where the mode of transmission was known, more than half were linked to sexual transmission, while more than 42 per cent were associated with injecting drug use.
The UN agency welcomed Fiji’s planned introduction of legislation to establish a needle and syringe programme.
UNAIDS Regional Director Eamonn Murphy said Fiji still had an opportunity to change the direction of the epidemic through stronger cooperation and sustained international support.
UNAIDS country director Renata Ram told AFP earlier this year that HIV transmission began increasing around 2019 after the emergence of a group of people who inject drugs and were considered at very high risk.
She said the group was largely associated with the sex-worker community.
Fiji and other Pacific island nations have also become transit points for illegal drugs originating from Latin America and Asia and destined for markets in Australia and New Zealand.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime reported that the movement of drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine increased sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the drugs are increasingly entering local Pacific markets, partly because international criminal networks have reportedly begun paying local facilitators with drugs instead of cash.
Fiji’s government said its expanded HIV response would focus on prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and measures to reduce transmission as it tackles the rapidly worsening crisis.
