Fiji declares HIV a national emergency as infections rise 12-fold in 15 years

Only 22% of the 9,100 people living with HIV in the Pacific island nation are accessing treatment.

Told by Claire Lawson · 20 September 2026

Fiji has declared HIV a national health emergency, and the numbers behind that decision are breathtaking in the worst possible way.

On 16 September, Health Minister Hon. Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu formally declared the crisis after cabinet approved the move a week earlier. UNAIDS estimates that new infections in Fiji rose 12-fold between 2010 and 2025 — one of the sharpest increases globally. In 2025 alone, Fiji recorded 2,016 new diagnoses, sixteen times the number recorded in 2019. Fifty-nine babies were born with HIV.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. An estimated 9,100 people are living with HIV in Fiji. Only 39% know their status. Just 22% are accessing antiretroviral treatment.

That means more than half the people living with HIV in Fiji right now don't know they have it, and four out of five are not on the medication that would keep them alive and prevent transmission. These are not abstract policy failures — these are people who will get sicker, who will die, who will pass the virus to partners and children, because the system was not there when they needed it.

Among cases where the mode of transmission is known, over half were linked to sexual transmission and more than 42% to injecting drug use. The government has announced it will introduce a needle-and-syringe programme, with legislative amendments expected to go before Parliament. It is also expanding access to PrEP — including long-acting prevention options such as twice-yearly injections — alongside stronger community engagement and action against stigma.

A Cabinet subcommittee has been established to address policy and implementation barriers. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima welcomed the declaration: "Fiji has recognised the urgency of the moment and is stepping up its response. It is also a stark reminder to the world that AIDS is not over. HIV epidemics can change quickly, and countries need health and community systems that are ready to respond urgently."

Fiji is a Pacific island nation with a population of approximately 900,000. The emergency declaration brings the urgency needed to ramp up the response across government and society, but urgency is not the same as capacity. Community organisations and peer outreach workers are already connecting people to prevention, testing, treatment and care, countering misinformation and reaching people who may not use formal health services. They have been doing that work without the infrastructure, without the legislative backing, without enough of the medication.

The question now is whether the emergency declaration translates into the resources, the political will and the sustained attention required to close the gap between 9,100 people living with HIV and the 7,098 who are not on treatment. Because right now, those 7,098 people are waiting — and HIV does not.