Rising new HIV infections
Report places Fiji ahead in Pacific
FIJI ranks among the top five countries of rising new HIV infections in the Asia-Pacific region, among the 15 to 24-year-old age group.
Speaker of Parliament and UNAIDS Goodwill ambassador for the Pacific region, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, said that according to the Global AIDS Monitoring Report, the infections were at an increasing rate of over 50 per cent since 2010 — placing Fiji ahead of all other Pacific island countries.
“In 2020, Fiji had a total of 147 new cases and 13 of these cases were paediatric cases,” he said.
“These were mostly opportunistic cases, meaning that there wasn’t active outreach done for testing.
“This could indicate that there are many unknown cases out there – a trend that is common throughout the world.”
“I have no doubt that you will agree with me that these numbers are not acceptable,”
Ratu Epeli said.
The COVID-19 pandemic, he added, was threatening the progress the world has made in health and development over the past 20 years, including the gains made against HIV.
“I fully understand and totally support the importance of the COVID-19 response and the prominence it has now been given and the calling for full and concerted public action to combat it. However, I also believe that existing diseases, such as the pandemic HIV/AIDS, also needs our continued attention as it has been around for so many years — and is still without a cure — and as such has lifelong impacts on people who are affected and their families.
“The COVID-19 pandemic must not be an excuse to divert investment from HIV. There is a risk that the hard-earned gains of the AIDS response will be sacrificed to the fight against COVID-19, but the right to health means that no one disease should be fought at the expense of the other,” he added.