Fiji declares an HIV emergency and expands testing as cases surge

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Fiji has declared an HIV national emergency after data showed one in 60 people in the South Pacific island nation was estimated to be infected.

The government says it is boosting testing and treatment efforts to fight a surge in new infections, which have increased 12-fold over the last 15 years, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS ( UNAIDS ). However, agencies now had to work together on the crisis, officials said this week.

The latest figures showed about 9,000 people were living with HIV in 2025 in a country which has fewer than a million people, according to the U.N. agency. It said only 39% of patients knew their HIV status and just 22% were receiving antiretroviral treatment.

Fiji officials said one in every 60 adults in the country has HIV, compared with one in 167 five years ago. Among pregnant women, one in every 50 has HIV.

"This means HIV is now a national crisis and the government is treating it like one. No more business as usual," Fiji's Health Minister Antonio Lalabalavu said in a video statement on Facebook. “More people in Fiji are living with HIV than ever before.”

Lalabalavu declared the illness had been given “outbreak” status in January 2025 but said the Cabinet had decided this month that such a response was no longer sufficient and should be elevated to a designation of national emergency. That required government agencies to work together with the health ministry on addressing the problem, he said.

He added that more cases were being uncovered because testing efforts were reaching more people. The government said it was expanding free testing and free treatment for people who tested positive and would provide clean needles for drug users. However, stigma about the illness remained an issue.

“This is about protecting people — not judging them, not watching them, not shaming them,” Lalabalavu said.

Analysts say the crisis was driven in part by the growing use of injected methamphetamine, which has exploded across the Pacific as traffickers use island countries as transit hubs for drugs.

HIV rates in Pacific Island nations are low, except in Papua New Guinea where infections have surged since 2010 to the highest and fastest-growing numbers in the region. A national HIV crisis was declared there by the government in June 2025.

Even in countries with low rates, officials fear outbreaks. Most Pacific islands nations have very small populations and not all health services are funded or available, making the spread of transmission difficult to curb.

Fiji's crisis was “a stark reminder to the world that AIDS is not over,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.