Children as young as five are now being diagnosed with HIV in Fiji, as health experts warn the virus is spreading beyond traditional high-risk groups to pregnant women, children and adolescents.
Chairperson of Fiji's National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Task Force Dr Jason Mitchell highlighted this during fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, saying Fiji is now facing what he described as a generalized HIV epidemic.
Dr Mitchell also reveals that HIV infections among adolescents aged 10 to 19 have increased 45-fold over the past three years.
@fijivillage.com Children as young as five are now being diagnosed with HIV in Fiji, as health experts warn the virus is spreading beyond traditional high-risk groups to pregnant women, children and adolescents was highlighted by Chairperson of Fiji's National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Task Force, Dr Jason Mitchell, during Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, stressing that the trend is deeply concerning for Fiji.
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Dr Mitchell says 32 babies were born with HIV in Fiji last year, with many women either HIV-positive before pregnancy or acquiring the virus during pregnancy or shortly after delivery, allowing transmission to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth or through breastfeeding.
Insert: Dr Mitchell on figures 29th June
He says these cases are not linked to sexual transmission but are driven by high-risk behaviour associated with intravenous drug use stressing the data shows drug use involving injections is now being seen among children from the age of 10 upwards.
Dr Mitchell says the rise in infections is placing significant pressure on the health system, as HIV weakens the immune system and leads to opportunistic infections that would not normally affect healthy people.
He says Fiji’s tuberculosis programme is under strain, noting that at one point around 80 percent of patients in the TB hospital were co-infected with both TB and HIV.
Dr Mitchell also says increasing numbers of patients at St Giles Hospital are presenting with drug-related psychosis and mental health conditions, and are also HIV-positive.
He says HIV clinics are now overwhelmed by the growing number of cases, with staffing shortages adding to the pressure.
Dr Mitchell says tertiary hospitals are also seeing increased pressure as more patients present with multiple infections alongside HIV.
He says new HIV cases have been doubling every year since 2021, and that trend is expected to continue in the near term.
However, he says the rise is also partly due to improved outreach and testing, which is identifying more people living with HIV, while the long-term goal remains to reduce new infections through stronger prevention programmes.
