A possible future of HIV and Aids management in the school education sector in South Africa

[摘要] 'My country is dying. It depends on our young people to ensure that it stays alive, because the adults arenot doing it. We children are not supposed to do it, but we should rather prepare ourselves for it. Wemust help each other to keep alive, stay safe and protect our brothers, sisters, cousins and friends againstHIV and Aids. – Alexandra, 13 years old (www.uneca.org).The previous secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, quoted these words at the AfricaDevelopment Forum in December 2000. There are millions of children like Alexandra in South Africa andthe rest of the continent. And she's right. Sometimes HIV and Aids are the very factors that form thesocial, political and economic circumstances in which the pandemic thrives – and that creates a downwardspiral (UNAIDS (a), 2005).If one thinks of young people, one inadvertently thinks of the education sector, which happens to be oneof the sectors in which HIV and Aids have the greatest impact, on the supply as well as the demand side.The development and implementation of policy in this sector will be of crucial importance in determininghow the epidemic will grow (or not), in South Africa and elsewhere.In 2005 the advocacy organisation UNAIDS published a book containing three scenarios on how HIV andAids could develop in Africa over the next two decades as a result of decisions made today: 1. Africa takesa stand and makes tough choices; 2. Africa gets caught in the traps we face today; 3. Africa and the restof the world stand together and overcome the pandemic (UNAIDS (a), 2005).The Africa Centre for HIV/Aids Management at Stellenbosch University offers postgraduate courses in theworkplace management of HIV and Aids. One of the assignments students at this centre had to dofocused on developing a human resources strategy for their workplace. A high number of these studentswork in the education sector, either at provincial departments of education or as school teachers. Theirassignments provide details on how HIV and Aids are currently managed, as well as recommendations forthe future (Africa Centre for HIV/Aids Management (c). 2005/6).In this document the assignments of students from the education sector are analysed. They are comparedwith the abovementioned three scenarios, with the purpose of trying to determine the direction in whichthe education sector in South Africa is heading concerning the management of HIV and Aids.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University