Nineteen children in the Central Division have been diagnosed with HIV so far this year.

Consultant Pediatrician at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Dr. Priya Kaur, revealed this, stating that the children’s ages ranged from newborns to under five years old.

She says they got infected through mother-to-child transmission explaining that it is preventable with the necessary interventions.

“We probably fail to test her or even if we tested her something happened and she didn’t take her antiretroviral during pregnancy and that’s how the baby got it, it’s a long journey for a child to be infected.”

Dr. Kaur says curbing mother-to-child transmission is critical and can be done with the right interventions in place.

“Please come early and get an HIV test if you are pregnant because you can really save your children, if you are positive that is not the end, that is the beginning of a journey that you can decide whether it will be a good one or a bad one. It’s one tablet a day.”

Fiji Medical Association President Dr. Alipate Vakamocea says that when a neonate is diagnosed with HIV, it indicates a failure of the HIV program.

“If you have a neonate that’s positive, that’s an example that the program itself has failed because the neonate itself they are not an IV drug user, the only way they got infected is obviously from the parents and usually if we pick up a mum early on in pregnancy we can put them through treatment to the point where the baby don’t get affected but because they are presenting late, or because they somehow during their cause of pregnancy get infected, that’s how the babies are getting infected, so if a neonate gets HIV it’s an example that the entire program has failed.”

Dr. Kaur says the immediate focus is on re-strategizing all HIV prevention programs, including the Reproductive Health Education program.