Fiji has declared its escalating HIV epidemic a national emergency after new estimates showed one in every 60 adults is living with the virus, a development with particular relevance to Tonga because of the close and longstanding movement of people between the two Pacific nations.

Fiji is an important regional education hub for Tonga, with many Tongan students studying at the University of the South Pacific’s main Laucala campus in Suva over the years.

The two countries also maintain extensive family, educational, sporting, religious and other connections, making Fiji’s worsening HIV epidemic an issue of wider regional significance.

Fiji’s Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Atonio Lalabalavu, announced the national emergency after evidence showed the epidemic had reached a level requiring a stronger and more coordinated response.

An estimated one in every 60 adults in Fiji is now living with HIV, compared with one in 167 five years ago.