Fiji declares national HIV emergency as Pacific nation grapples with surge in cases

The Fiji government estimates one in 50 pregnant women has HIV. Home to less than one million people, the Pacific nation is facing one of the sharpest increases in new HIV infections globally. Photograph: Viniana Bau/The Guardian

Fiji has declared a national HIV emergency amid a spike in infections as the Pacific nation grapples with a correlating rise in methamphetamine use.

The country’s health and medical services minister, Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu, said in a statement on social media that an outbreak-level response was no longer sufficient to address what he described an “epidemic”.