HIV and AIDS mainstreaming in the education

T h e c h a l l e n g e h
HIV and AIDS mainstreaming in the education
sector ensures that addressing HIV and AIDS is not
an add-on or a separate activity but an integral part
of education sector policies, strategies and actions.
It is a process which requires the engagement of the
education sector with key areas of attention such as
gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights
(SRHR) and with other sectors including health, youth
affairs, and the private sector, among others.
While the main responsibility for mainstreaming lies with
ministries of education in each country, development
cooperation agencies, including both development- and
humanitarian-oriented multilateral and bilateral agencies,
as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
other civil society organizations, can and should be playing a supportive role. Experience has shown, however, that
education staff in these agencies face a variety of challenges in supporting the mainstreaming of HIV and AIDS. They
encounter diffi culties in starting and sustaining dialogue (especially in countries where the HIV prevalence is low);
in deciding on key entry points, priorities and strategies for moving the mainstreaming process along; in identifying
what role to play, particularly in the context of decreasing direct involvement in implementation; in deciding how
to involve key stakeholders; in achieving decentralised approaches to addressing HIV and AIDS; and in ensuring
adequate attention to key drivers of the epidemic including gender inequality, stigma and discrimination and human
rights abuses.1