SUVA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- It was revealed this week by health authorities in Fiji that about 400 children under the age of five died from preventable or curable diseases annually.

In 2008 alone there were 259 cases of syphilis in children according to statistics released Tuesday from the Ministry of Health.

This was mainly attributed to the fact that most mothers failed to attend ante natal clinics in their initial stages of pregnancies.

Fiji Ministry of Health official and national adviser for family health, Josaia Samuela, made this revelation based on annual statistics.

He said because some mothers had not undergone the pregnancy checks in the first three months, conditions developed which could have been prevented if detected sooner.

An emerging issue in the island nation with the potential of becoming a major public health problem is sexually-transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS, syphilis and gonorrhea.

The infection of so many newborns with syphilis is because infected mothers booked very late or simply ignored antenatal care resulting in the passing of the infection to the unborn child, Dr Samuela said.

Medical authorities responded to the situation by providing free anti-retroviral treatment for HIV-positive children and pregnant women who had undergone antenatal screening in the clinics.

What was even more worrying was that despite the rising awareness programs on HIV/AIDS and STI during the Hibiscus Festival last month which is Fiji's major social event attracting thousands of people, 27 new cases of Sexually Transmitted Infections were reported at the Reproductive Health Clinic for Adolescents, in Suva.

The clinic official said 10 of the cases were below the age of 19.

Most of the new cases from sexual relationships developed from the Hibiscus Festival last month after one-night stand relationships and this mean the young people were having unprotected sex. The official said it was hard to track down the clients' partners, because they did not have their details.

"Most of these cases are those of a one night stand."

Health ministry statistics showed there are 138 confirmed cases of gonorrhea and 57 confirmed cases of syphilis among adults since January this year.