HIV/AIDS prevention in schools
on Sabrina and Geoff Slide in Kamwenge (Uganda), 04/Oct/2009 16:42, 34 days ago
This term, Sabrina’s School Health programme is all about HIV/AIDS prevention. Over one million adults are living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda and 3.5 million children are orphans due to their parents dying from the disease. Over the last few months we have carried out workshops for head teachers on HIV/AIDS preventionin schools and this term I am visiting all the schools trained to help them with implementation of the policy. The workshop consisted of topics such as prevention through education, preventing sexual transmission to pupils and teachers and mitigating the effect of HIV/AIDS. In fact I have never talked about sex so much as I have in the last few months!Schools in Uganda cover a lot of information in PIASCY which stands for Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth. This was introduced by President Museveni in an attempt to halt the spread of AIDS. The initiative is successful to a degree although, when working in schools, we have found the messages given are good but understanding is lacking. For example, children chant‘Don’t have unprotected sex’ without understanding what it means and school compounds have notice boards displaying messages saying things like ‘Have sex later’. The work in schools is very important as children present a ‘window of hope’ for stemming the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as those atschool are usually free of HIV and the challenge is to keep them that way.When visiting schools I talk with the head teacher and teacher responsible for PIASCY and we discuss how understanding can be improved through bringing the topic of HIV/AIDS into assemblies, clubs and lessons. The aim is to keep children free of HIV by identifying actions that the school can take. I also give lots of information on universal precautions to keep everyone safe. Supporting children who are caring for sick relatives in an attempt to stop them dropping out of school is also part of the discussion.During the first workshop we held, Geoff and I did a role play during the session on Guidance and Counselling. I played the part of a caring teacher and Geoff was a pupil struggling at school because his mum was sick. Role play is obviously not big in Uganda because out of all the sessions we did, that was the one the head teachers remember and say they have tried with children. We feel under a lot of pressure now to do an even better role play at the next workshop we hold!