HIV response constrained by staffing gaps

Fiji’s HIV response is being slowed by a critical shortage of health workers, the Health Minister says.

Dr Lalabalavu told Parliament that the country does not yet have enough personnel to fully implement its national response plan.

“I must be candid with Parliament: the scale of tangible action on the ground is not yet commensurate with the speed and spread of the epidemic because our human resources and field mobilisation capacity remain critically constrained.”

He said only a small portion of the required workforce had been recruited so far.

“To date, 23 positions have been filled out of 167 required, with a further 30 positions in the early stages of recruitment.”

As a result, a small national team is managing the response across the country.

“This means that a small national team is carrying a country-wide workload, limiting how quickly we can expand outreach, follow-up, and decentralised clinical services across all divisions.”