By Jonathan Kumar

United Nations AIDS Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Eamonn Murphy, says Fiji is experiencing an alarming HIV epidemic due to its central position in the Pacific.

Murphy says UNAIDS is working closely together with the Fijian Government to monitor the dynamics of this new increase.

“When it started during COVID or before was still unclear…we usually do a reporting over about a 10-12 year period. So between 2010 and 2022, we now see a 260% increase in new infections. Now, they are a mix of new infections. New can mean someone who’s had HIV for a long time and comes in for a test. So, that’s an old infection versus someone who’s recently acquired HIV,” says the Regional Coordinator.

He says a surge strategy will be conducted to assist the Ministry of Health in mitigating this issue.

“Stigma and discrimination is still a major barrier for people to access services early. Some people only come in when they’re very ill, because they’ve been afraid of family and community reactions, right? So we have to understand that. We’re working with the government to get a more accurate picture of the dynamics of the epidemic,” he says.

He adds that the prevalence of drugs have contributed to this epidemic and UNAIDS is planning a campaign to address this.

He added “If there’s injecting drug use going on, clearly, we need to have programs for that. We know what can be done, if they need to be put in place. So definitely a campaign on all aspects, including the treatment and addressing stigma and discrimination in society.”

The Regional Coordinator urged people to get tested and administer treatment, to help stop HIV from spreading.