'Blood Sharing' Fuels Alarming Rise of HIV Cases in Fiji

Wed Oct 22 2025 04:47:16 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Fiji is witnessing a dramatic surge in HIV cases, with nearly 6,000 reported, primarily driven by intravenous drug use and unsafe practices. Experts warn of a national crisis as infection rates spike among the youth.

A concerning increase in HIV cases in Fiji has been linked to practices like 'bluetoothing,' where drug users share blood after injection. The health minister has declared an HIV outbreak, noting alarming statistics indicating that around 20% of new cases stem from intravenous drug use. The national health infrastructure struggles to keep pace, prompting fears of an impending crisis.

Ten: that's the age of the youngest person with HIV that Sesenieli Naitala has ever met.

When she first started Fiji's Survivor Advocacy Network in 2013, that young boy was yet to be born. Now he is one of thousands of Fijians to have contracted the bloodborne virus in recent years – many of them aged 19 or younger, and many of them through intravenous drug use.

More young people are using drugs, Ms Naitala, whose organisation provides support to sex workers and drug users in the Fijian capital Suva, tells the BBC. He (the boy) was one of those young people that were sharing needles on the street during Covid.

Over the past five years, Fiji – a tiny South Pacific nation with a population of less than a million – has become the locus of one of the world's fastest growing HIV epidemics.

In 2014, the country had fewer than 500 people living with HIV. By 2024 that number had soared to approximately 5,900 – an elevenfold leap.

That same year, Fiji recorded 1,583 new cases – a thirteenfold increase on its usual five-year average. Of those, 41 were aged 15 or younger, compared to just 11 in 2023.

Such figures prompted the country's minister for health and medical services to declare an HIV outbreak in January. Last week, assistant health minister Penioni Ravunawa warned Fiji may record more than 3,000 new HIV cases by the end of 2025.

This is a national crisis, he said. And it is not slowing down.

Experts and advocates point to the rise in intravenous drug use, unsafe sexual practices, and a troubling new trend termed bluetoothing, where users share blood to achieve a high together.

“It’s not just needles they’re sharing – they’re sharing the blood,” Kalesi Volatabu, executive director for Drug Free Fiji, recounts a startling scene on the streets of Suva where multiple users share blood after injections.

Fiji's Ministry of Health has recognized the significant role of contaminated needle use and practices like bluetoothing in the HIV epidemic.

With the country positioned between major drug manufacturing and market regions, Fiji has seen crystal meth become prevalent, leading to a complex intertwining with the HIV crisis.

As of late August 2024, the Ministry reported that around 20% of new HIV cases came from intravenous drug use.

Experts warn that inadequate health system resources to combat HIV and the serious shortage of education about the virus and safe practices leave many at risk. The current figures could only reflect the beginning of an escalating crisis, indicating a potential avalanche of unseen cases to come.