Australia commits millions to help Fiji fight HIV

Australia will spend $25 million over five years helping Fiji improve its health system.

Australia will spend $25 million over five years helping Fiji improve its health system.The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says part of the money will go to fight HIV/AIDS. Australia has been assisting the Fiji Health Department in a range of areas for almost 10 years. The objectives of the new five-year aid commitment including improving Fiji’s overall public health, its health promotion efforts and health delivery to rural areas. Mr Downer said Fiji faced major health challenges. “We, for our part, have a particular fear throughout the Asia-Pacific region of the spread of a communicable disease like HIV/AIDS … and we, all of us, I think you would agree, have to do what we can to try to address that problem,” he said.(Source: ABC Health News, Dec 2003)