HIV/AIDS and education
[PDF]

In less than two decades, HIV/AIDS has become a development disaster. Infection rates in Africa have reached alarming proportions, but they are also growing rapidly in Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. It is a severe obstacle to the EFA goals. Protecting a new generation from HIV/AIDS is integral to the future of education systems.

The scope of the problem

Infection and death rates are high among the skilled, trained and educated, draining countries of their intellectual resources and the groups most vital for development. AIDS has cut a deadly swathe through the teaching profession: up to 10 per cent of teachers are expected to die in the worst-affected African countries over the next five years.

Often the graduation rate from teacher-training colleges barely replaces the sick and dying workforce. Teacher deaths due to AIDS in Zambia in 1998 were equivalent to two-thirds of the number of newly qualified teachers, and those who die are often the most skilled and experienced. Consequently teacher morale is often low; though the teachers themselves may not be infected, colleagues or family members might be. Education officials and planners, who keep the system running are also liable to be affected by the disease.

Fewer children can afford to attend school. Many drop out to look after infected family members or because they experience shame or stigma through association with the disease. In Côte d'Ivoire, for example ,it is estimated that by the year 2010,there will be 778.000 maternal and double orphans, of which nearly three-quarters will be orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. The pattern is much the same -or even worse -in Benin, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

Current strategies to combat the effect of HIV/AIDS

Some countries have launched ambitious programmes to combat the effect of HIV/AIDS.

Sri Lanka introduced AIDS preventive measures, adding "population and family life education "to the school curriculum in 1993.

Cambodia has translated educational material about HIV/AIDS prevention into Khmer and set up intensive teacher-training programmes.

The Daughters of Education project in Thailand funds the education of girls who would otherwise be sold into the sex trade.

Brazil has introduced a vast national prevention programme aimed at young people in and out of school, especially those difficult to reach.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a major effort in Senegal has prevented an epidemic and maintained one of the lowest infection rates in the region; reproductive health and sexuality are now taught in schools. After HIV infection rose to 10 per cent of adults in Uganda, the government introduced urgent measures to raise awareness, promote healthy behaviour and direct attention to people living with HIV/AIDS. New cases among the young have now fallen considerably.

Development partners are supporting these efforts. UNESCO and the World Health Organization (WHO),for example, have organized AIDS-awareness seminars for educational planners and developed resource materials on school health education to prevent AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

Recent initiatives to accelerate action

The World Education Forum set the stage for a renewed drive to fight the pandemic. UN agencies, civil society organizations and NGOs, schools and pupils are involved in this effort. One key focus is finding solutions to the severe shortage of trained teachers. Another is identifying good practices and easily adapted innovative approaches to curtail the spread of the disease.

Several recent initiatives have been launched to address these issues:

UNESCO 's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)has established a research unit related to the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems and developed a strategy for HIV/AIDS preventive education. This strategy is based on the assumption that preventive education works if properly implemented, and focuses on five core tasks: advocacy at all levels; customizing the message and tailoring it to recipients; changing risk behaviour; caring for the infected and affected; and coping with the institutional impact of HIV/AIDS.

The UNAIDS inter-agency working group on AIDS, Education and School (comprising UNDP,UNDCP UNESCO,UNFPA,UNICEF,WHO and the World Bank),has
developed a global strategy framework with the aim of cutting HIV-infection rates among young people in the most affected countries by 25 per cent by 2005 and worldwide by 2010.

Partners

UNAIDS www.unaids.org
UNESCO www.unesco.org
IIEP www.iiep.unesco.org
UNDP www.undp.org
UNDCP www.undcp.org
UNFPA www.unfpa.org
UNICEF www.unicef.org
WHO www.who.int
World Bank www.worldbank.org