HIV and AIDS education: The issues

HIV and AIDS education: The issues

Unfortunately when it comes to HIV and AIDS education, ideological and religious views often conflict with science. America has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates out of high-income countries.¹⁷ Yet despite evidence that young people are having sex, the ideological message of sexual abstinence until marriage plays a key role in sex education. Abstinence-only programmes often do not teach people about contraception and safer sex and therefore many young people remain unaware of how to protect themselves from becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV. Federal funding for abstinence-only programmes in America has increased significantly since 1997, despite many studies concluding that these programmes have no long-term effect on sexual-health outcomes.¹⁸

Conflicts with science are not only evident in America – in many parts of the world, educating about safe sex is against moral and religious views and therefore people remain unaware of the dangers of HIV infection through sexual intercourse.

“At this moment in time, this school is trying to educate their students about ‘themselves’…but because of the policies of the Catholic Education Office, certain topics are not allowed to be spoken about in class… I feel sorry for these children as they will be totally shocked once they finally learn about ‘sex’. I feel that the school and the Catholic system is trying to protect these children from the horrors of the real world”A personal story received by AVERT from Louise, a social work student taking a work placement at a primary school.

Discriminatory laws and government views can also have a detrimental effect upon HIV and AIDS education. In Zimbabwe, for example, homophobic views are common and homosexuality has been publicly denounced by President Robert Mugabe. This has made it difficult for AIDS organisations to target gay men with educational messages.

“A lot of gay men in Zimbabwe have died silently through ignorance and multiple stigmatisation of homosexuality and seroposivity. As a result, there is a growing sense of urgency to extend services to this community”Samual Madzikure, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe.¹⁹

“What we need to do is fight for a change of laws so that gays are given recognition. Without that, fighting AIDS among homosexuals will be futile”Benjamin Mazhindu, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV