"We are going to villages to spread awareness and we are trying to get as many people as possible to be tested for HIV and other Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD)."
Attorney-General Siromi Turaga during the Lomaiviti Provincial Council meeting at Studio 6 in Suva on July 25, 2023. Photo: Wati Talebula-Nuku
Shocking and worrying revelations were made by Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga at the Lomaiviti Provincial Council meeting yesterday.
The province is the third highest in terms of Fijians imprisoned for offences they had committed.
Speaking to his fellow kinsman, Mr Turaga said he was always filled with mixed emotions and questions when visiting corrections facilities to find the number of people from the Lomaiviti province incarcerated.
He said about seven men from the province were in the Nasinu Corrections facility for crimes of sexual assault. Lomaiviti Subdivision Medical Officer (SDMO) Dr Malakai Raluke also revealed that one or two people from the province tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) every month.
Out of the shocking 245 new cases of HIV diagnosed in 2022, 135 cases were recorded from Central/Eastern divisions (55 per cent), 92 cases in the West (38 per cent), and 18 cases in the North (seven per cent).
“In Levuka, we could test blood to find out those that are positive for HIV. In a month we will see one or two cases of HIV in Lomaiviti,” he added.
“We are going to villages to spread awareness and we are trying to get as many people as possible to be tested for HIV and other Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD).”
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