The Pacific island state of Fiji has declared a national emergency as HIV infections rise rapidly. New infections in the country have increased greatly over the past few years. According to UNAIDS, the United Nations agency on AIDS, about 9,100 people were living with HIV in Fiji in 2025. Of them, only 39 percent knew they were infected and only 22 percent were receiving antiretroviral treatment.
According to Fiji’s health ministry’s national figures for 2025, 2,016 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in the country that year. In 2024 the number of new detections was 1,583, so new detections rose by 27 percent in a year. The ministry says that alongside the rise in infections, many previously undetected patients have been identified as testing has become more widely available across the country.
UNAIDS estimates that in the current situation about one adult in every 60 in Fiji is living with HIV. Five years ago that ratio was about one in every 167 adults. UNAIDS has also said new HIV infections in Fiji rose roughly twelvefold between 2010 and 2025.
Fiji’s health ministry said testing has been increased in order to understand the nature of the infections. The rise in new detections, however, reflects not only increasing infection but also improved detection. The total of 2,016 patients detected in 2025 is being seen as a major warning signal for the country’s health system.
Injecting drug use has emerged as one of the most important causes of infection. UNAIDS said that in cases where the route of infection could be identified, more than half were related to sexual transmission and more than 42 percent were linked to injecting drug use. Health experts said the risk of sharing used needles or syringes in particular is increasing infection.
Infection is not confined to drug users, however. Another worrying aspect of Fiji’s health situation is transmission from mother to child. In 2025, 59 babies were born with HIV and 18 of them died before their first birthday. Infection rates among pregnant women have also risen.
Fiji’s health minister, Antonio Lalabalavu, said there is no longer scope for treating the situation as an ordinary health risk. The government is now expanding free voluntary and confidential HIV testing, providing free treatment for those infected, and strengthening various programmes to prevent infection. There are also plans to widen access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for at-risk groups.
The government has also planned a needle and syringe programme for people who inject drugs, through which it will try to reduce the risk of sharing used needles. There are plans to expand provision of long-term preventive medicines as well.
To tackle the situation, Fiji’s government has formed a cabinet sub-committee of five ministers. Steps are being taken to remove obstacles to policy and implementation by involving other government departments alongside the health ministry. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS have offered cooperation in Fiji’s effort.
Another major concern for experts is the social stigma and discrimination faced by people who are infected. UNAIDS and the WHO have said HIV does not spread through ordinary everyday contact. If effective treatment keeps the level of the virus undetectable, sexual transmission can also be prevented. Rather than fear or misinformation, therefore, it is essential to strengthen testing, rapid detection, treatment and preventive measures.
Fiji’s population is under a million. With infection rising quickly in a country with such a small population, pressure on the health system is also growing. UNAIDS considers Fiji’s present situation a warning not only for that country but for the whole Pacific region. With healthcare limited in small island states, acting quickly to control new infections is important.
Although Fiji’s government has declared a national emergency, international health bodies are presenting the situation not as a cause for panic but as requiring a swift and coordinated health response. The emphasis is on widening access to testing and treatment, reducing infection linked to drug use, protecting mothers and children, and reducing social discrimination. Fiji’s experience shows that controlling HIV requires not treatment alone but prevention, public awareness and easy access to healthcare, all together.