UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for the Pacific Region Ratu Epeli Nailatikau says the COVID-19 pandemic must not be an excuse to divert investment from HIV.
He says 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”.
Ratu Epeli made the comment yesterday as he cited the Global AIDS Monitoring Report that put Fiji among the top five countries of rising new HIV infections in the Asia Pacific region; and among the 15-24-year-old age groups, and with an increasing rate of more than 50 per cecnt since 2010.
He said that had put 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. 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,” Ratu Epeli said.
“I have no doubt that you will agree with me that these numbers are not acceptable.”
The Speaker of Parliament said the COVID-19 pandemic was threatening the progress that the world had made in health and development over the past 20 years, including the gains made against HIV.
“This year has been like no other for Fiji and despite it all, we can proudly stand together to affirm the continuation of our HIV response.
“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.”
