Stakeholders in Fiji are pushing for the introduction of a Needle Syringe Program to counter the rising number or HIV cases.

It is estimated that in the next four years, Fiji could see up to 25 000 individuals living with HIV based on outdated intervention methods.

As of 2024, an estimated 7,000 people are likely to be living with HIV, and out of that, only 1583 diagnoses were made, where only 711 cases were linked to clinical diagnosis.

Statistics also show that about half of the clinical diagnoses acquired HIV due to Injectable Drug use.

Therefore, the National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Taskforce Darshika Balak says, they are in the process of launching the Needle Syringe Program following approval from the Cabinet next year.

“The introduction of combination prevention for people who use or inject drugs. We need to have needle syringe programs in the country, especially for people who inject drugs. And then there’s other harm reduction strategies that can be put forward as it is stipulated in the narcotic strategy for people who use drugs”

UNAIDS Country Director Renata Ram says that based on past data modeling, Fiji can experience 27 fold increase in cases.

“It’s a modeling exercise based on the Fiji data, like what Fiji has presented in the last 10 years, and also in the model that we use, there are different high-risk behaviors. So a person who uses drugs, or injects drugs, is 27 times more likely to get HIV. So if you have no intervention, if there’s no needle syringe program, or anything that’s supporting harm reduction, in the next four years, in the same trend, you’ll have over 25,000 people who will be infected with HIV based on those variables or those factors.”

Stakeholders emphasized that the Needle Syringe Program has been proven effective in other parts of the world, and with Fiji expecting a rise in persons living with HIV, this program can assist the country to keep HIV cases under manageable levels with the ultimate goal of not having any new cases in the future.

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