The HIV crisis in the country has reached a critical stage in the last thirteen years, demanding an urgent and comprehensive surge response.

Recent reports indicate that the number of new HIV infections is on the rise, with Fiji recording 245 new cases in a year, the highest ever reported.

According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, out of the 245 new cases, 231 are among adults, while 14 involve children.

UNAIDS Country Director Renata Ram says urgent action is needed to protect the health and well-being of individuals and communities affected by HIV in Fiji.

“We need a surge response. It’s not business as usual so we need to be doing more in this area. We need more prevention activities, we need more dropped-off spots where people can actually get condoms, lubricants, and even pushing for needle exchange programs. As we know that the use of meth is high in Fiji and this is through injecting drug use which poses another threat for HIV transmission so these are some of the activities that UNAIDS is trying to push through with other community organizations and other partners.”

Ram says the latest data reveals that the young generation is at risk.

“There is almost doubling of new infections in certain age groups. The most concerning one with the latest data shows that 43 percent of the newly diagnosed HIV were from 20 to 29-year-olds. And this is of huge concern because our prevention programs have dropped off in the last few years and it’s showing us that a whole generation of young people is at risk because of low HIV knowledge, low condom use, and emerging injecting drug use these are the information that we have on hand to help us plan what activities we need to do next.”

The UNAIDS country is urging every individual, especially young people, to practice safe sex and get tested to know their HIV status.

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