Fijian President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who led a march procession through the capital of Suva on Saturday to commemorate World AIDS Day, asked citizens to be sexually responsible and ensure the reduction of the merciless disease.

Nailatikau highlighted various measures for achieving zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

"We still need to upscale what we see is working and bring in new innovative ideas that we know can work. The thing about HIV advocacy is that we already know what works and what does not work, " he said.

"The statistics reveal that we in Fiji must strengthen our campaign towards zero new HIV infections, a challenging goal that demands smart thinking, strategic planning including the upscaling of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) services and preventative measures, and most definitely an increase in funding, among others," said the president.

Despite the increasing cases, results show that more people are more open towards HIV/AIDS testing which demonstrates the positive outcome of campaigns and awareness programs, a statement from the Ministry of Information said.

Highlighting Fiji's international obligations such as the Millennium Development Goals and the 2015 targets for the United Nations Declaration on HIV and AIDS, Nailtaikau called on all Fijians to be more responsive towards HIV/AIDS.

"The nation as a whole must own the response to HIV and AIDS. This is paramount," Nailatikau told participants and guests at the event.

Minister for Health Dr. Neil Sharma joined the president to show their support to the program and also joined the UNAIDS office in Suva in launching the nation's third Strategic Development Plan on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, for the years 2012 to 2015.

In light of the conservative society in Fiji, Nailatikau said instead of talking bad about HIV/AIDS, parents should teach their children safe sex.

"Parents should not look at condoms negatively...The issue is that people don't use protection. If you practise safe sex you will get the results and protection is the key," he said earlier this week.

Nailatikau said he would be going to secondary schools around the country to advocate for AIDS awareness.

"There are 177 secondary schools in Fiji. I have covered 25 involving a student population of approximately 12,000...I intend to visit all other secondary schools next year."

Fighting HIV/AIDS is not the sole responsibility of the government but everyone in society, Nailatikau underscored.

Fiji's Ministry of Health reported 30 new HIV infection cases within the first 6 month of this year. Government figures show that at the end of 2011, it was reported that the cumulative total of confirmed HIV cases in Fiji was 420, fifty-three of which were new infections for the year 2011 alone compared with the smaller number of 33 new infections in 2010.