Australia has committed to giving Fiji more than $15 million to combat its growing HIV outbreak, which is being driven by drug addicts sharing blood.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the funding during a visit to the capital Suva on Thursday, after arriving to represent Australia at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) for foreign ministers.
Ms Wong also revealed on Thursday that all PIF members were now connected to undersea telecommunications cables for the first time, thanks to $500 million handed out by Australia since 2018 to deliver cable projects in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.
“Regrettably, as you know, Fiji is experiencing the fastest-growing HIV outbreaks in the world, and we, Australia, are standing with you in responding to this crisis,” Ms Wong said
“This is a health challenge, but it is also a security challenge. Alongside our health partnership, we’re also working together to combat transnational crime, illicit drug trafficking, which is contributing to this challenge.”
Fiji had more than 2,000 HIV diagnoses in 2025, two-thirds in people aged 20 to 34, and 94% from the indigenous population of the islands.
About 12,000 people are now infected, amounting to one in 60 adults, up from just 500 cases in 2014.
The epidemic is being driven by prostitution, unsafe sex, the use of crystal meth during sex, and a disturbing practice known as “bluetoothing” where a drug user takes a hit and then withdraws their own blood, which is then injected into another person, who does the same for a third.
Bluetoothing, which is also rampant in South Africa, allows multiple people to share a single dose of drugs with just one syringe, and has become widespread in Fiji in recent years.
Kalesi Volatabu, executive director for the NGO Drug Free Fiji, told BBC News last year she had seen a group of seven or eight people bluetoothing while she was walking through Suva.
“I saw the needle with the blood – it was right there in front of me,” she said.
“This young woman, she’d already had the shot and she’s taking out the blood – and then you’ve got other girls, other adults, already lining up to be hit with this thing.
“It’s not just needles they’re sharing – they’re sharing the blood.”
Ms Wong’s commitment comes after she announced a $30 million cash injection for Fiji in May to help it keep fuel prices low.
Header image: Penny Wong with Fiji’s Health Minister, Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu (Foreign Ministry).
