Fiji is in the grips of an HIV outbreak that’s largely fueled by a drug epidemic. It is now the fastest-growing HIV outbreak in the world. Fiji is responding through evidence based harm reduction. To support national action to stop the spread of HIV, a two-day national workshop was held to apply the new WHO Operational guide for needle and syringe programs for people who inject drugs. The workshop brought together government officials, police, religious leaders, pharmacists, clinicians, civil society organizations, UN agencies, researchers and a community representative with lived experience of injecting drug use.
The HIV outbreak in Fiji should be a warning to Florida, where an emergency rule was passed by the state legislature to enact cuts to the Florida AIDS Drug Assistance Program. More than 128,000 Floridians are living with HIV. The state has the second-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses after Georgia, with approximately 4,500 new diagnoses in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. Court challenges to the rule are still pending but, if enacted, access to treatment could be in jeopardy as well as causing higher rates of new HIV diagnoses.
