One-year-old baby is the youngest person to test positive for HIV - Dr Devi

With 552 new HIV cases from January to June this year which include 85 cases of people using injectable drugs, more information has been revealed today that a one-year-old baby has tested positive for HIV after the transmission from his mother

This has raised alarm bells and the urgent need for intensified immunization and awareness campaigns in Fiji.

While speaking at a training session at the Fiji National University Campus in Tamavua this morning for the enumerators who will begin an immunization coverage survey, Ministry of Health Head of Family Health, Doctor Rachael Devi says the immunization survey is an opportunity for the Ministry to learn how they are doing on the ground in terms of different diseases, which allows them to prevent and reduce thousands of deaths each year among children and adults.

She says knowing the children on the ground are immunized is an essential component in terms of safety and their teams will be heading out to the field, doing random selection for households while working with other stakeholders from the Bureau of Statistics, UNICEF, and WHO in rolling out the actual coverage for this awareness.

When questioned by fijivillage News on the increase in cases of HIV and injectable cases released last Friday, Doctor Devi says they anticipated the increase and she is urging more people to come forward and get tested because the statistics released are just the tip of the iceberg.

Doctor Devi says they are creating awareness through these statistics and need everyone’s collaborative effort to carry out this exercise.

She is urging people not to be naive and get tested, even though it can be fearful but knowing the results and progressing from it is paramount.