Needle exchange helps curb HIV, says anti-drug advocate

Drug World Fiji founder Kalesi Volatabu has called for stronger national intervention as Fiji continues to record rising cases of drug use and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections linked to needle sharing.

Speaking on current trends, Ms Volatabu said the growing visibility of drug-related harm and HIV cases across media platforms reflected an urgent public health concern.

"Every time I look in the newspaper, on television or even on Facebook, I see drug and HIV cases in Fiji spiking," Ms Volatabu said.

She said one of the major contributing factors was needle sharing, commonly referred to as "bluetoothing", which has been linked to the rise in HIV infections.

"My question is, what are we not doing? One of the narcotics strategies we put in place was needle exchange," she said.

Ms Volatabu said providing clean needles was a harm-reduction approach, not an encouragement of drug use, and should be properly understood within the broader public health response.

"We are not encouraging drug use. We are trying to curb the number of HIV cases," she said.

She acknowledged the work of frontline HIV response teams, saying many had been actively supporting communities.

"I have to acknowledge the HIV team. They have done great work on the ground," she said.

Ms Volatabu also called for wider and more consistent drug testing policies across all sectors, including uniformed services.

"There has to be drug testing across the board. It doesn't matter whether you are in uniform, there has to be drug testing," she said.

She further said drug awareness programmes in schools needed to be expanded beyond limited annual campaigns.

"There are many weeks in a school term, yet only one week is focused on drug awareness, and sometimes only one day," she said.

"How do you address this when you still do that? You cannot apply the same action and expect different results."

Ms Volatabu said Fiji needed the right people, stronger systems and sustained intervention to effectively respond to the growing crisis.