Medical Services Pacific (MSP) is calling for a revamp of sex education in Fijian schools after a new student engagement pilot and outreach data revealed worrying shifts in young people’s HIV and drug-related risks. MSP project lead Christine Nikola said the “Na Bula E Dua” campaign — currently being piloted in six schools — highlighted the need for curriculum that better reflects the real-life challenges children and adolescents face.
The campaign recently brought together students from three Central Division schools — Delainamasi Government School, Ballantine Memorial School and Nasinu Secondary School — as part of a broader initiative that also includes Tilak High School, St Thomas Secondary School and Delana Primary School in the Western Division. MSP says the program has been designed as a year-long effort that creates space for pupils to engage with stakeholders and civil society organisations to co-design information, education and communication (IEC) materials that are locally relevant and practical.
“We are piloting this campaign in six schools already,” Nikola said, noting that the Na Bula E Dua message is beginning to resonate with students as outreach continues. The sessions, she added, run from Year 1 through to Year 13 and have received ethical approval from both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. While comprehensive sexuality education exists under Family Life Education, MSP argues its initiative aims to “dig deeper” by addressing emerging issues — particularly around drug use and HIV — more directly.
A key feature of the campaign is linking school-based awareness with concrete referral pathways. Campaign activities focus on HIV prevention and drug awareness, and connect students to support services including the Child Helpline 1325 as well as health and education ministry services. Nikola said that even if students take away one clear safety message from the year-long project, MSP will consider that a success.
The call to strengthen in-school sex education comes alongside new data from MSP’s Moonlight Outreach Program, which operates at night to reach marginalised populations. Country director Dr Kesaia Tuidraki said the outreach’s mobile teams, which were originally intended to service groups such as female sex workers, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men and transgender individuals, are now seeing a distinct shift in clientele. “What we’ve seen is most of those individuals that are accessing our services at night are young girls and boys who are injecting drugs,” she said, describing the trend as unexpected but clear.
Dr Tuidraki emphasised that MSP’s evening outreach is not limited to HIV testing. The organisation offers an integrated package of sexual and reproductive health services — including family planning, counselling, cervical screening for women and prostate screening for men — to ensure broader health needs are met. “It’s not just a sort of like a one HIV service but it’s that integrated approach that we use which is what we see really works,” she said.
The Na Bula E Dua campaign is funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Pacific Community (SPC). MSP officials say the convergence of school-based education pilots and the Moonlight Outreach findings underlines an urgent need to update messaging and delivery methods across the education and health systems, so prevention, harm reduction and referral mechanisms reach young people both in classrooms and in the community.
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