Schools present a valuable opportunity to teach young people how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. A study from the UK's University of York looks at the support for formal and informal HIV/AIDS education in Namibia, where it is estimated that 22.5% of adults are HIV positive. The authors suggest action points for teacher preparation and policy development.

A strong health-promoting environment can maximise the impact of school health education programmes in developing countries. One vital element of a school’s health-promoting environment is the existence of appropriate policies and key activities, including:

• a school health policy document
• extra-curricular health-related activities in addition to the inclusion of HIV/AIDS education in the core curriculum
• school-based sexual health care
• school-community links.

The second key component is appropriate training for teachers. This involves:

• consolidation of necessary HIV/AIDS content knowledge
• acquisition of appropriate teaching approaches
• development of teachers’ willingness and ability to take responsibility for HIV/AIDS education.

Using the above seven elements, the researchers constructed a four level model to describe the health promoting environments of just under half (42 in total) of the senior secondary schools in the country. One in six schools were found to have virtually no health promoting environment, whilst only three schools (7%) had put in place comprehensive sets of measures to create the most positive health promoting environments.

Most schools (75%) had no policy document for HIV/AIDS education or for health education. More than a quarter had no designated teacher responsible for HIV/AIDS education. However, almost all schools included HIV/AIDS education in life sciences at junior secondary level and in biology at senior secondary level. Three out of four schools included HIV/AIDS in life skills. A quarter of the schools had no extra-curricular HIV/AIDS education. Others had activities involving visiting speakers or after-school clubs. In about a quarter of the schools, learners shared their knowledge and attitudes with other community members, within or outside the school.

In-service education training (INSET) courses for HIV/AIDS education were reported to concentrate on subject knowledge with few advising on teaching methods or dealing with HIV/AIDS in the school environment. In about 40% of schools, no staff member had been trained for HIV/AIDS education and in several cases, the HIV/AIDS education co-ordinator had yet to be trained.

The level of a health promoting environment was not related to the rural or urban setting of a school but was influenced by its provincial location. This is explained by the intensity of operation of various HIV/AIDS prevention project initiatives in different areas rather than differences in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the local population. Surprisingly, larger schools had a distinctly lower level of health promoting environment than smaller schools.

In general, the level of a health promoting environment correlates well with the level organised extra curricular HIV/AIDS education activities and student ownership of these. In some cases students arranged such activities directly with external agencies underlining the importance that students attach to HIV/AIDS education.

The researchers recommend that all schools should:

• write and implement a policy that clearly sets out the school’s commitment to HIV/AIDS education, how this will be met and by whom
• appoint a trained person to co-ordinate HIV/AIDS education across the curriculum and through extra-curricular activities
• provide appropriate and comprehensive training for teachers.

Source(s):
‘The provision of a health promoting environment for HIV/AIDS education: the case of Namibian senior secondary schools’, International Journal of Educational Development 23: 529-542, by R. Campbell and F. Lubben, 2003

Funded by: The European Union through the Namibian Human Resources Development Project

id21 Research Highlight: 16 October 2004

Further Information:
Bob Campbell and Fred Lubben
Department of Educational Studies
University of York
York YO10 5DD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1904 433468/342560
Fax: +44 (0)1904 433459/433444
Contact the contributor: rmc1@york.ac.uk

Contact the contributor: fel1@york.ac.uk

University of York, UK

Other related links:
'Timetable for change: effective HIV education in Asian schools'

'Deadly silence: barriers to communicating HIV/AIDS in schools'

'Best days of your life? Tackling health problems in Tanzania’s schools'

'Teaching AIDS: student teachers learn about HIV in Zimbabwe'

'Preventing HIV/AIDS in schools' from UNESCO

HIV/AIDS from UNICEF

'AIDS and girls' education' from UNAIDS