An HIV awareness poster displayed along a main road in Suva on April 20. | AFP-JIJI

Suva, Fiji – As evening falls in Fiji's capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world's fastest-growing HIV epidemics.

In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — there were over 2,000 new HIV cases recorded last year, a 26% increase from 2024.

The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis.

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