‘We Are Very Open’: Fiji’s Tourism Minister Says HIV Emergency Should Not Deter Visitors

RNZ
Pacific reporters

Fiji’s
Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka says people travelling to
the island for tourism purposes, such as from Australia and
New Zealand, know that HIV is a “global
phenomenon”.

Gavoka, who is a deputy prime minister,
was responding to questions from local reporters about
concerns from tourists who are worried about their travel
plans to Fiji after the country declared a national HIV
emergency this week.

Tourism is Fiji’s main driver of
the economy, contributing around 40 percent of the country’s
gross domestic product (GDP). The sector directly and
indirectly supports more than 150,000 jobs, with nearly one
in every three Fijians relying on tourism for their
livelihoods.

The Fijian health minister confirmed on
Tuesday that one
in every 60 adults in Fiji is living with HIV, rising
nearly threefold in five years to around one percent of the
population.

The government’s response includes
expanding free rapid testing and providing clean needles to
drug users, a measure aimed at reducing transmission linked
to intravenous drug use.

‘3000%
increase since 2010’

A New Zealand health researcher
has described the situation as “a once in a generation
health crisis”.

University of Canterbury’s Dr Jalal
Mohammed told RNZ Morning Report that one in 60
adults, or 1.6 percent of Fiji’s population between the ages
of 15 and 49, have been diagnosed.

“That’s only those
who have been diagnosed. So there is a segment of the
population out there that remains undiagnosed and this is a
significant issue.

“We’ve seen a 3000 percent increase
since 2010 in the number of diagnoses.”

Dr Mohammed
said there were several factors contributing to the issue,
but pointed out a “significant underinvestment” in the
health sector as one of the main drivers.

Gavoka said
HIV is not unique to Fiji and travellers to the country need
confidence that Fiji knows what it is doing to tackle the
issue.

“And that is more important than anything
else,” he told Fiji One News.

“We are not
sweeping [the HIV crisis] under the carpet. We are very open
about it, and travellers today appreciate that.”

The
New Zealand Government website SafeTravel has warned people
travelling to Fiji to avoid activities that could increase
their risk of infection.

Calls for resource
prioritisation

However, the Fiji Council of Social
Services (FCOSS) told RNZ Pacific that public statements
alone were not sufficient and that resources needed to be
prioritised for the HIV response.

FCOSS chief
executive Vani Catanasiga said Prime Minister Sitiveni
Rabuka appears to have his mind elsewhere, particularly with
Fiji’s constitutional debate ahead of the 2027
election.

“I’m calling for prioritisation of resources
[for] HIV because our leaders are currently juggling various
issues at the national level, but health is something that
really I don’t see the same prominence given to it,” she
said.

Catanasiga said FCOSS is directing its available
resources, including volunteers, into community awareness
activities.

“We should expect the impacts and we have
to brace for that. But I think, as Fijians, we’ve been
through similar things in the past, and we have survived
it.”

Meanwhile, the Methodist Church in Fiji says the
HIV epidemic and drug abuse crisis in the country go beyond
medical and social concerns.

Reverend Lote Raboila
Umari said the response requires a whole-of-community
approach, and government, churches, families and communities
must work together.

Earlier this year, the church
began a
three-year campaign against drugs and HIV/AIDS,
mobilising its 59 divisions to participate in rotating
shifts of week-long prayer and
fasting.

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