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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Michelle Duff

‘Children are dying’: Fiji hopes declaring an HIV emergency will help it tackle crisis

A general view of people sitting by the water in Suva City on April 29, 2026 in Suva, Fiji.
Fiji has a population of about 930,000 people, with an estimated 9,100 now living with HIV. Photograph: Pita Simpson/Getty Images

On a recent Friday night, Dr Kesaia Tuidraki’s medical team parked its mobile clinic outside McDonald’s in downtown Suva, Fiji, and grabbed any kid they could to be tested for HIV. Of the 97 people screened, mostly teenagers – some on their way to get a burger, others to buy drugs – one in six tested positive.

“Children are suffering, children are dying, and if that doesn’t move you I don’t know what will,” Tuidraki, country director of Medical Services Pacific, tells the Guardian.

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