When does HIV need

When does HIV need
to be comprehensively
addressed through
education?
T h e r o l e o f
e d u c a t i o n
As outlined in the Joint Agency Position Paper on
HIV & AIDS and Education, education can effectively
contribute to achieving gender equality, to promoting
SRHR and to providing access to knowledge and
skills needed for HIV prevention and care.
P urpose
When is it necessary to make a serious commitment to ensuring that the education
sector is prepared for, and actively addressing, HIV and AIDS? The fl ow chart in this tool should
be useful for your agency in making an initial assessment of the situation. You can do this
assessment by yourself, or with other partners, including ministry of education stakeholders.
H o w t o u s e
t h i s t o o l
Carefully consider the questions in each of the shaded
boxes in the fl ow chart on page 10 (left), starting from
the top and working down. You may want to look up
information you do not have, or talk to others who are
knowledgeable about the areas covered to ensure you
have the correct answer, and/or that your answer refl ects
the perceptions of others. Once you have decided on
the answer to the question, use the arrows to proceed
to the next box. When you have fi nished responding to
the fl ow chart, consider the implications of the questions
that have been asked and use those to start thinking
about strategies and priority areas for action.
D i s c u s s i o n
This exercise will have made it clear that HIV
& AIDS and SRHR need to be addressed in all contexts
– irrespective of HIV prevalence levels – and that there is
really no situation in which both issues are irrelevant to
learners, to education staff (including educators) and to
the education sector as a whole. In some countries, the
epidemic will have progressed to such an extent that the
risk to the education sector is immediate and obvious. In
other countries, the risk may be more long term and less
prominent but nonetheless present. In all cases, learners
and education sector staff face the possibility of potential
infection. Thus in all cases, the education sector will need
to play a major role in promoting knowledge, attitudes
and skills that allow young people and education staff to
protect themselves against HIV infection.