Update: 28th April. There have been fewer than 260 HIV diagnoses in Fiji since records began (I originally quoted a source claiming fewer than 30), so it must come as something of a shock for Fijians to have to come to terms with the fact that an HIV-positive man is not disclosing his status before having unprotected sex.
The hunt is now on for a 33 year-old Fijian man who allegedly transmitted HIV to two women. The Fiji Times has published four stories since Friday covering the issue.
Update: 28th April. In fact, Fiji now seems to be hunting down six HIV-positive individuals.
Interestingly, according to one of the articles, reckless or intentional HIV transmission (or exposure) is not a crime in Fiji, although the transmission of HIV via shared needles is.
Police spokesman Corporal Josaia Weicavu said wilfully passing on the HIV virus had not been criminalized.
Police can only advise women in Labasa to be careful when engaging in sexual activity after health and police authorities mounted a search in recent weeks for a 33-year-old man of Labasa.
Consequently, Reverend Sekove Veisa, head of a Methodist church circuit, has “called for lawmakers to criminalise the wilful spread of the disease by anyone.”
Highlights of the four news stories from The Fiji Times are below, followed by a brief report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the missing six.
Hunt for HIV man
SERAFINA SILAITOGA
Saturday, April 19, 2008HEALTH authorities are on the hunt for a HIV positive patient who they believe is engaged in promiscuous sex and deliberately spreading the disease.
Acting general manager community health North Doctor Pablo Romanik confirmed the search for the 33-year-old Fijian man started early this month after two women who were admitted to the Labasa Hospital tested positive for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
Dr Romanik said what worried them was that the patient did not have a stable address and efforts to find him the past three weeks were unsuccessful.
“We are looking for this man to counsel him. The reason for our search is because he is the same man identified by his two ex-girlfriends who were admitted and tested HIV positive,” he said. “All we want to do is counsel him and help him. The fact that he does not have a stable address is of great concern because he could continue to have other partners and spread the disease.”
Dr Romanik said the second woman was admitted in January this year after health officials carried out a blood test on her which tested HIV positive.
He said they interviewed the woman who then told them about her partner who is a known HIV positive patient.
“That’s when we found out, and strongly believe, that she contracted the disease from him because he is a known patient who was tested positive in 2004 when he came to donate some blood to the hospital,” Dr Romanik said.
“The first case involved his other girlfriend who was also admitted last year and tested HIV positive. She also identified the same man as her boyfriend.”
Sunday, April 20, 2008
THE head of a Methodist Church circuit has pleaded with a HIV patient being hunted by health authorities to stop infecting women.
And Reverend Sekove Veisa, who leads the Macuata circuit, called for lawmakers to criminalise the wilful spread of the disease by anyone.
[…]
Mr Veisa said the fact that the HIV positive man was deliberately infecting women was hard to fathom.
He said the church had a program that dealt with such issues as HIV and urged the man not to destroy lives.
Police assistant spokesman Corporal Josaia Weicavu said he had to clarify whether wilfully spreading the disease was a criminal offence.
Isolate HIV suspect
AMELIA VUNILEBA
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Update: 4:47PMHEALTH authorities have the power to isolate people that have contracted HIV, police said today.
Police spokesman Corporal Josaia Weicavu said wilfully passing on the HIV virus had not been criminalized.
Police can only advise women in Labasa to be careful when engaging in sexual activity after health and police authorities mounted a search in recent weeks for a 33-year-old man of Labasa.
Acting general manager community health North Doctor Pablo Romanik said the search for the man started early this month after two women who were admitted at the Labasa Hospital tested positive for HIV.
The ministry has identified 28 HIV positive cases since 1995.
Of this, there is one case under the age of 20, 15 cases between the ages of 20 to 29, three cases between the ages of 30 to 39, seven between 40 and 49 and two cases over the age of 50.
Out of this, 40 per cent are males and 60 per cent females. Fijians top the list at 84 per cent, Indo-Fijians at 8 per cent and 8 per cent for other races.
Monday, April 21, 2008
WHILE there are no laws to charge people living with HIV and wilfully spreading the virus, the Ministry of Health has powers to isolate these people.
Police assistant spokesman Corporal Josaia Weicavu said the act of knowingly passing on the HIV virus was not a criminal offence yet.
“It’s not criminalised yet, however, the Ministry of Health has powers to isolate these people who have HIV,” said Cpl Weicavu.
He said people could be charged if they were caught passing on the virus through needle injections. However, this did not apply to transmission of the virus through sex.
Attempts were made to get comments from interim Health Minister Jiko Luveni.
[…]
Ministry of Health permanent secretary, Doctor Lepani Waqatakirewa, said health officials could search for HIV positive patients for counselling.
Fiji seeks missing HIV patients
Updated April 28, 2008 04:25:33Fiji health officials are trying to find six people with HIV in the country’s northern division.
The Division’s acting Chief Medical Officer for Community Health told Fijilive there are 15 known AIDS cases on record in the north, but that health officials only have addresses for nine of those individuals.
The youngest known HIV patient in the North is a 20-year-old student in Labasa.
Fiji has reported 259 HIV cases since 1989, with more than 15 reported cases last year alone.