Don’t use herbal medicine to treat HIV, please get tested – Rev. Tugi

General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship and Fiji Council of Churches Board member, Reverend Simione Tugi is urging the public not to take herbal medicine but to get tested if they have symptoms of HIV.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, Rev. Tugi says Fiji has about 121 cases of HIV per month and about 4,000 people are living with HIV in Fiji right now.

He says because of the stigma, a lot of people are afraid to get tested as they will be labelled as a HIV person and disowned by everyone.

Rev. Tugi says getting tested for HIV is quick as it can only take 15 minutes.

The HIV Taskforce Committee member says people should not go for herbal treatment as it is not medically certified.

While speaking on his assessment, Rev. Tugi says there wasn’t a lot of attention given to drugs in previous years and the Government then had said that it was not widespread.

He disagreed with the previous Government’s stand.