Fighting HIV/AIDS in the classroom

Over the last 20 years, HIV/AIDS has evolved from a health burden to a serious development crisis with visible social and economic effects on entire communities. 

However, it has been documented by the World Bank that almost all school age children are free of HIV infection even in the worst affected countries. Since HIV/AIDS is entirely preventable, these children present a "Window of Hope" into the future.

Education has been called a social vaccine against HIV/AIDS, because it empowers individuals with appropriate skills to receive and act on knowledge, including knowledge about HIV/AIDS.  

In Uganda, Build Africa has its sights set on targeting young people in primary schools with prevention techniques that will empower them with the knowledge and skills to protect themselves against infection.

Working in conjunction with an initiative called 'Mainstreaming of AIDS/HIV in Education (MAHE)', Build Africa field teams in Uganda have already seen a positive impact throughout MAHE's target groups, which include pupils, teachers and parents in 32 schools located in four districts throughout the country. 

Sponsored by the Civil Society Fund, Build Africa has teamed up with The Aids Support Organisation to conduct training of "peer educators", in which a number of parents and pupils attend trainings on HIV/AIDS and then return to their peer groups to spread their newly-acquired skills and knowledge on the prevention of the disease.

Since the programme began in 2008, there are now HIV/AIDS clubs in target schools, where trained peer educators are successfully passing on their messages to fellow students and friends.