Pastors and church ministers need the knowledge to preach about drugs and HIV – Rev Tugi

Fiji Council of Churches Board member and Fiji Evangelical Fellowship General Secretary Reverend Simione Tugi is calling on the government to provide training to pastors and church ministers as they do not have the knowledge to preach about drugs and HIV.

With a HIV outbreak declared in the country, Reverend Tugi says he believes the increase in the number of cases was expected due to the rising concerns about drugs.

He says we need a combined effort from everyone to tackle this issue.

Reverend Tugi adds that there are about 1,183 villages in Fiji where churches are also located.

The General Secretary says people are sitting in congregations going through these things, but they cannot ask them the questions because they don't have that knowledge.

According to the Health Ministry, 1,093 new cases of HIV were recorded from January to September 2024.

Minister for Health Dr Atonio Lalabalavu had declared an HIV outbreak in Fiji.

He adds a person who injects drugs and shares used needles is 29 times more likely to contract HIV, and their data today is a clear reflection of this.

The Minister says to address this, targeted interventions will be introduced to reduce new cases among injecting drug users, including harm reduction programs and greater accessibility to prevention services.

Dr Lalabalavu says the 1,093 new HIV cases are dispersed across the country, with 766 cases recorded in the Central Division, 292 cases in the Western Division, 33 cases in the Northern Division, and the Eastern Division recorded 2 cases.

He says the age group most affected is 20 to 29 years old, with 553 cases accounting for 51 percent of cases.

He further says among the reported cases, 784 are males, and 990 or 90.6 percent are of iTaukei descent, followed by Fijians of Indian descent at 8.2 percent (90 cases) and other ethnicities at 1.2 percent (13 cases).

The Minister adds that out of the new cases, only 52 percent (572 cases) have been successfully linked to care, and among those linked to care, 77 percent or 443 cases have known transmission routes.

He says of these, 223 cases or 50.3 percent have reported Injecting Drug Use (IDU) as a primary mode of transmission, while 202 cases or 45.6 percent have reported sexual transmission as a primary mode of transmission.

Dr Lalabalavu says an additional 129 cases or 23 percent are currently under evaluation to determine their primary transmission routes. He stresses that the Ministry conducted 45,677 lab-based HIV screenings and 5,173 point-of-care tests (POCT) during this period, demonstrating its commitment to expanding HIV testing services. Dr Lalabalavu says there were 115 HIV-related deaths recorded in the same timeframe, with 29.6 percent (34 deaths) occurring among individuals diagnosed in 2024.

He adds these 34 deaths were unfortunately late diagnosis.