Critical staff shortages are slowing Fiji’s response to the country’s worsening HIV epidemic.
In his statement in Parliament yesterday, Minister for Health Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu said the Health Ministry is unable to commensurate with the speed and spread of the HIV epidemic in the country due to critically constrained human resources and limited field mobilisation capacity.
In January 2025, Dr Lalabalavu formally declared a HIV outbreak in the country, which was initially believed to be concentrated among intravenous drug user populations.
He told the Parliament yesterday that recognising the seriousness of the situation and the need for a dedicated operational capability, in June 2025, he had directed the establishment of a standalone diagonal Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Unit within the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to operationalise the national response through the National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Taskforce (N-HOCRT) and its technical committees and technical working groups.
“To date, 23 positions have been filled out of 167 required, with a further 30 positions in the early stages of recruitment,” Dr Lalabalavu said.
“This means that a small national team is carrying a country-wide workload, limiting how quickly we can expand outreach, follow-up, and decentralised clinical services across all divisions.”
Dr Lalabalavu sought Parliament’s support for a high-level, multi-sector national response to HIV, STIs and blood-borne viruses (BBV), to be carried out in close collaboration with communities, civil society, and technical partners, and operationalised through the National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Taskforce (N-HOCRT).
“The Taskforce model is working because it brings together the right technical expertise and community reach; however, the epidemic is now affecting the wider community and requires stronger whole-of-Government mobilisation across the social drivers of infection.
“I request that Government enable an emergency response footing for this national effort, so that we can remove bottlenecks and accelerate approvals for recruitment, procurement, infrastructure, and the enabling legal instruments required to expand services quickly and safely.”
