A new UNESCO HIV/AIDS educational resource kit titled “Living and Learning in a world with HIV/AIDS” has been launched in Uganda. The kit was officially unveiled on 17th August 2004 at City Parents School by the Secretary General, Uganda National Commission for UNESCO, Mr. Augustine Omare-Okurut.

This kit is part of UNESCO’s effort in the World AIDS Campaign to counter HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination. The aim of this information kit is to provide a resource for students, teachers and parents to promote a supportive environment towards people living with HIV/AIDS in the school.

The kit was produced from contributions by ASPnet schools in Uganda, Gambia and South Africa plus SchoolNet students in Uganda. Uganda’s participating schools included City Parents School, Lake Victoria Primary School-Entebbe, Bishop’s Secondary School Mukono, St. Henry’s College Kitovu and Namilyango College.

HIV-related stigma refers to all unfavorable attitudes, beliefs, and policies directed toward people perceived to have HIV/AIDS as well as loved ones, close associates and communities. Patterns of prejudice, which include devaluing, discounting, discrediting, and discriminating against these groups of people, play into and strengthen existing social inequalities — especially those of gender, sexuality, and race — that are at the root of HIV-related stigma.

Fear of discrimination often prevents people from seeking treatment for AIDS or from admitting their HIV status publicly. Teachers or students with or suspected of having HIV may be turned away from healthcare services, employment or refused entry to foreign country. In some cases, they may be evicted from home by their families and rejected by their friends and colleagues. The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS can extend into the next generation, placing an emotional burden on those left behind.

This new resource pack will educate students and help them eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, their likelihood of becoming infected with HIV. The kit provides functional knowledge about HIV and AIDS such as the methods of HIV transmission and the personal consequences of AIDS and HIV infection. Functional knowledge about how HIV is and is not transmitted will help students recognize high-risk behaviour and provide the information students need to avoid this behaviour.

The kit contains three brochures, one for students,
the other for teachers and also for parents. It will therefore be able to address all stakeholders in the school. The kit is in currently available in English only but there is a plan to translate the kit and have it distributed to all parts of the country. The kit will also be mass produced for all educational institutions in Uganda soon. The kit authors hope this threefold approach will be able to fill the gaps that may not be dealt with by either group.

Many HIV education resource materials are now available for students at various levels. These materials are usually availed through Ministry of Health or Education and Sports. Educational materials such as this kit may be looked at by some people as being too academic.

“There is an urgent need to devise alternative means of communicating AIDS messages so that they can be assimilated. Some students never use the library in school and therefore may never benefit from materials on the shelves. But if a video is produced and shown in the school, they can also get the message. Some messages can be put on the ordinary exercise books or folders so that students can read them as they do routine classwork”, said a Ministry of Health HIV/AIDS Unit Official.

In the final analysis, an HIV education resource’s quality must be judged by its impact on students. Will HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination eventually become taboo in Uganda’s schools?