Sexual education

SEX EDUCATION that works !!!


this is definitely worth a read


What is sex education?

Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. It is also about developing young people's skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education, partly because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.

What are the aims of sex education?

Sex education seeks both to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour like unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases, and to enhance the quality of relationships. It is also about developing young people's ability to make decisions over their entire lifetime. Sex education that works, by which we mean that it is effective, is sex education that contributes to this overall aim.

What skills should sex education develop?

If sex education is going to be effective it needs to include opportunities for young people to develop skills, as it can hard for them to act on the basis of only having information. The kinds of skills young people develop as part of sex education are linked to more general life-skills. For example, being able to communicate, listen, negotiate, ask for and identify sources of help and advice, are useful life-skills and can be applied in terms of sexual relationships. Effective sex education develops young people's skills in negotiation, decision-making, assertion and listening. Other important skills include being able to recognise pressures from other people and to resist them, deal with and challenge prejudice, seek help from adults - including parents, carers and professionals - through the family, community and health and welfare services. Sex education that works, also helps equip young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information, discuss a range of moral and social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality, abortion and contraception.

Forming attitudes and beliefs

Young people can be exposed to a wide range of attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. These sometimes appear contradictory and confusing. For example, some health messages emphasis the risks and dangers associated with sexual activity and some media coverage promotes the idea that being sexually active makes a person more attractive and mature. Because sex and sexuality are sensitive subjects, young people and sex educators can have strong views on what attitudes people should hold, and what moral framework should govern people's behaviour - these too can sometimes seem to be at odds. Young people are very interested in the moral and cultural frameworks that binds sex and sexuality. They often welcome opportunities to talk about issues where people have strong views, like abortion, sex before marriage, lesbian and gay issues and contraception and birth control. It is important to remember that talking in a balanced way about differences in opinion does not promote one set of views over another, or mean that one agrees with a particular view. Part of exploring and understanding cultural, religious and moral views is finding out that you can agree to disagree.


People providing sex education have attitudes and beliefs of their own about sex and sexuality and it is important not to let these influence negatively the sex education that they provide. For example, even if a person believes that young people should not have sex until they are married, this does not imply withholding important information about safer sex and contraception. Attempts to impose narrow moralistic views about sex and sexuality on young people through sex education have failed. Rather than trying to deter or frighten young people away from having sex, effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs, coupled with skills development, that enables young people to choose whether or not to have a sexual relationship taking into account the potential risks of any sexual activity.
Effective sex education also provides young people with an opportunity to explore the reasons why people have sex, and to think about how it involves emotions, respect for one self and other people and their feelings, decisions and bodies. Young people should have the chance to explore gender differences and how ethnicity and sexuality can influence people's feelings and options. They should be able to decide for themselves what the positive qualities of relationships are. It is important that they understand how bullying, stereotyping, abuse and exploitation can negatively influence relationships.

So what information should be given to young people?

Young people get information about sex and sexuality from a wide range of sources including each other, through the media including advertising, television and magazines, as well as leaflets, books and websites (such as AVERT - A UK HIV and AIDS Charity) which are intended to be sources of information about sex and sexuality. Some of this will be accurate and some inaccurate. Providing information through sex education is therefore about finding out what young people already know and adding to their existing knowledge and correcting any misinformation they may have. For example, young people may have heard that condoms are not effective against HIV/AIDS or that there is a cure for AIDS. It is important to provide information which corrects mistaken beliefs. Without correct information young people can put themselves at greater risk.
Information is also important as the basis on young people can developed well- informed attitudes and views about sex and sexuality. Young people need to have information on all the following topics:

• Sexual development
• Reproduction
• Contraception
• Relationships

They need to have information about the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty and sexual reproduction, including fertilisation and conception and about sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. They also need to know about contraception and birth control including what contraceptives there are, how they work, how people use them, how they decide what to use or not, and how they can be obtained. In terms of information about relationships they need to know about what kinds of relationships there are, about love and commitment, marriage and partnership and the law relating to sexual behaviour and relationships as well as the range of religious and cultural views on sex and sexuality and sexual diversity. In addition, young people should be provided with information about abortion, sexuality, and confidentiality, as well as about the range of sources of advice and support that is available in the community and nationally.

When should sex education start?

Sex education that works starts early, before young people reach puberty, and before they have developed established patterns of behaviour. The precise age at which information should be provided depends on the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the young people as well as their level of understanding. What is covered and also how, depends on who is providing the sex education, when they are providing it, and in what context, as well as what the individual young person wants to know about.
It is important not to delay providing information to young people but to begin when they are young. Providing basic information provides the foundation on which more complex knowledge is built up over time. This also means that sex education has to be sustained. For example, when they are very young, children can be informed about how people grow and change over time, and how babies become children and then adults, and this provides the basis on which they understand more detailed information about puberty provided in the pre-teenage years. They can also when they are young, be provided with information about viruses and germs that attack the body. This provides the basis for talking to them later about infections that can be caught through sexual contact.

Some people are concerned that providing information about sex and sexuality arouses curiosity and can lead to sexual experimentation. There is no evidence that this happens. It is important to remember that young people can store up information provided at any time, for a time when they need it later on.
Sometimes it can difficult for adults to know when to raise issues, but the important thing is to maintain an open relationship with children which provides them with opportunities to ask questions when they have them. Parents and carers can also be proactive and engage young people in discussions about sex, sexuality and relationships. Naturally, many parents and their children feel embarrassed about talking about some aspects of sex and sexuality. Viewing sex education as an on-going conversation about values, attitudes and issues as well as providing facts can be helpful. The best basis to proceed on is a sound relationship in which a young person feels able to ask a question or raise an issue if they feel they need to. It has been shown that in countries like The Netherlands, where many families regard it as an important responsibility to talk openly with children about sex and sexuality, this contributes to greater cultural openness about sex and sexuality and improved sexual health among young people.20
The role of many parents and carers as sex educators changes as young people get older and young people are provided with more opportunities to receive formal sex education through schools and community-settings. However, it doesn't get any less important. Because sex education in school tends to take place in blocks of time, it can't always address issues relevant to young people at a particular time, and parents can fulfill a particularly important role in providing information and opportunities to discuss things as they arise.

Who should provide sex education?

Different settings provide different contexts and opportunities for sex education. At home, young people can easily have one-to-one discussions with parents or carers which focus on specific issues, questions or concerns. They can have a dialogue about their attitudes and views. Sex education at home also tends to take place over a long time, and involve lots of short interactions between parents and children. There may be times when young people seem reluctant to talk, but it is important not to interpret any diffidence as meaning that there is nothing left to talk about. As young people get older advantage can be taken of opportunities provided by things seen on television for example, as an opportunity to initiate conversation. It is also important not to defer dealing with a question or issue for too long as it can suggest that you are unwilling to talk about it.
In school the interaction between the teacher and young people takes a different form and is often provided in organised blocks of lessons. It is not as well suited to advising the individual as it is to providing information from an impartial point of view. The most effective sex education acknowledges the different contributions each setting can make. Schools programmes which involve parents, notifying them what is being taught and when, can support the initiation of dialogue at home. Parents and schools both need to engage with young people about the messages that they get from the media, and give them opportunities for discussion.
In some countries, the involvement of young people themselves in developing and providing sex education has increased as a means of ensuring the relevance and accessibility of provision. Consultation with young people at the point when programmes are designed, helps ensure that they relevant and the involvement of young people in delivering programmes may reinforce messages as they model attitudes and behaviour to their peers.

Effective school-based sex education

School-based sex education can be an important and effective way of enhancing young people's knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. There is widespread agreement that formal education should include sex education and what works has been well-researched. Evidence suggests that effective school programmes will include the following elements:

• A focus on reducing specific risky behaviours;
• A basis in theories which explain what influences people's sexual choices and behaviour;
• A clear, and continuously reinforced message about sexual behaviour and risk reduction;
• Providing accurate information about, the risks associated with sexual activity, about contraception and birth control, and about methods of avoiding or deferring intercourse;
• Dealing with peer and other social pressures on young people; Providing opportunities to practise communication, negotiation and assertion skills;
• Uses a variety of approaches to teaching and learning that involve and engage young people and help them to personalise the information;
• Uses approaches to teaching and learning which are appropriate to young people's age, experience and cultural background;
• Is provided by people who believe in what they are saying and have access to support in the form of training or consultation with other sex educators.

Formal programmes with these elements have been shown to increase young people's levels of knowledge about sex and sexuality, put back the average age at which they first have sexual intercourse and decrease risk when they do have sex . All the elements are important and inter-related, and sex education needs to be supported by links to sexual health services, otherwise it is not going to be so effective . It also takes into account the messages about sexual values and behaviour young people get from other sources, like friends and the media. It is also responsive to the needs of the young people themselves - whether they are girls or boys, on their own or in a single sex or mixed sex group, and what they know already, their age and experiences.

Taking Sex Education Forward

Providing effective sex education can seem daunting because it means tackling potentially sensitive issues. However, because sex education comprises many individual activities, which take place across a wide range of settings and periods of time, there are lots of opportunities to contribute.
The nature of a person's contribution depends on their relationship, role and expertise in relation to young people. For example, parents are best placed in relation to young people to provide continuity of individual support and education starting from early in their lives. School-based education programmes are particularly good at providing information and opportunities for skills development and attitude clarification in more formal ways, through lessons within a curriculum. Community-based projects provide opportunities for young people to access advice and information in less formal ways. Sexual health and other health and welfare services can provide access to specific information, support and advice. Sex education through the mass media, often supported by local, regional or national Government and non-governmental agencies and departments, can help to raise public awareness of sex health issues.


Further development of sex education partly depends on joining up these elements in a coherent way to meet the needs of young people. There is also a need to pay more attention to the needs of specific groups of young people like young parents, young lesbian, gay and bisexual people, as well as those who may be out of touch with services and schools and socially vulnerable, like young refugees and asylum-seekers, young people in care, young people in prisons, and also those living on the street.
The circumstances and context available to parents and other sex educators are different from place to place. Practical or political realities in a particular country may limit people's ability to provide young people with comprehensive sex education combining all the elements in the best way possible. But the basic principles outlined here apply everywhere. By making our own contribution and valuing that made by others, and by being guided by these principles, we can provide more sex education that works and improve the support we offer to young people.



the source: Sex Education that Works



the above post will be (later) supplemented with further info from the same source

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HIV, aids education and young people


Why is AIDS Education Important for Young People?

The HIV epidemic has been spreading steadily for the past two decades, and now affects every country in the world. Each year, more people die and the number of people living with HIV continues to rise – in spite of the fact that we have developed many proven HIV prevention methods. We now know much more about how HIV is transmitted that we did in the early days of the epidemic, and we know much more about how we can prevent it being transmitted. One of the key means of HIV prevention is education – teaching people about HIV : what it is, what it does, and how people can protect themselves. Over half of the world’s population is now under 25 years old. This age group is more threatened by AIDS than any other; equally it is the group that has more power to fight the epidemic than any other. Education can help to fight HIV, and it must focus on young people.
There are two main reasons that AIDS education for young people is important:

• To prevent them from becoming infected. Young people are often particularly vulnerable to sexually-transmitted HIV, and to HIV infection as a result of drug-use. Young people (15-24 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide - more than 6,000 become infected with HIV every day 1. More than a third of all people living with HIV or AIDS are under the age of 25, and almost two-thirds of them are women. In many parts of the world, young people in this age-group are at particularly high risk of HIV infection from unprotected sex, sex between men and IV drug-use because of the very high prevalence rates often found amongst people who engage in these behaviours. Young people are also often especially vulnerable to exploitation that may increase their susceptibility to infection. Even if they are not currently engaging in risk behaviours, as they become older, young people may soon be exposed to situations that put them at risk. Indeed, globally, most young people become sexually active in their teens. The fact that they are – or soon will be – at risk of HIV infection makes young people a crucial target for AIDS education.

• To reduce stigma and discrimination. People who are infected with HIV around the world often suffer terribly from stigma, in that people who are HIV+ are somehow thought to be ‘dirty’, or to have ‘brought it on themselves’ by ‘immoral practices’. They often experience discrimination in terms of housing, medical care, and employment. These experiences, aside from being extremely distressing for HIV+ people, can also have the effect of making people reluctant to be tested for HIV, in case they are found to be HIV+. Stigma and discrimination often starts early – as name-calling amongst children. AIDS education can help to prevent this, halting stigma and discrimination before they have an opportunity to grow.

Why is AIDS education for young people an issue?

The problem seems to stem from the fact that HIV is often sexually transmitted, or is transmitted via drug use. Any subject that concerns sex between young people or drug use tends to be seen from a moralistic perspective. Many adults – particularly those of the religious right – believe that teens need to be prevented from indulging in these high-risk activities. They believe that young people shouldn’t – and don’t need to be – provided with any education about these subjects, other than to be told that they are ‘wrong’, and not to do such things. Unfortunately, however, adults have been trying to stop young people from having sex and taking drugs for many, many years with little success, so this method alone seems unlikely to offer any real relief in terms of the global AIDS epidemic.
There are other difficulties in taking an exclusively moral approach to HIV education. Firstly, this is what tends to perpetuate stigmatisation of HIV+ people. By teaching young people that indulging in ‘immoral’ sex and drugs will lead to HIV infection, educators imply that anyone who is HIV+ is therefore involved in these ‘immoral’ activities. This stigmatisation tends to make people reluctant to be tested for HIV, and therefore more inclined to remain ignorant of their status – and perhaps go on to infect others. AIDS education shouldn’t ever include a moral judgement – it is one thing to teach young people that promiscuous sex and intravenous drug use are unsafe, another thing to teach them that these things are morally wrong.

AIDS education shouldn’t ever include a moral judgement – it is one thing to teach young people that promiscuous sex and intravenous drug use are unsafe, another thing to teach them that these things are morally wrong.

Many AIDS educators around the world are disturbed at this growing trend of providing AIDS education from a moralistic perspective, and argue that AIDS education ought to be non-judgemental, making young people aware of how HIV can be transmitted and how they can avoid becoming infected - without passing moral judgement on those who engage in infection-related behaviours, whether they do so safely or not.

The opposing, more conservative viewpoint, however, argues that young people shouldn’t be taught about sexual health and drug-related dangers at all. They feel that teaching them about these things, even teaching about their dangers, may encourage young people to indulge in these risk behaviours. Research suggests that this is not the case at all, and certainly young people themselves tend to be very enthusiastic about the fact that they need sex and sexual health education. Unfortunately, curriculum planners tend not to listen to the young people who will be their students. This viewpoint can result in no AIDS education at all being offered.

“I did not go to school and learn about the civil war and decide to start a civil war, nor would I have had sex because of a class in school.”

- Mark - However, many young people become sexually active long before adults would prefer them to do so, or expect them to do, and teens are not all ‘innocent ‘. Quite simply, if teens are having sex, they need sexual health information. Fortunately, many curriculum planners and legislators have recognised this, and provide young people in many countries with abstinence-plus or comprehensive sex & HIV education. A more detailed look at the results of such curriculum in the classroom can be found in the Teaching AIDS in schools page.

Different approaches to AIDS education for young people

Most countries in the world offer teens some sort of sexual health and HIV education in their schools at some stage. AIDS education can also be targeted at young people in non-school environments – through their peers, through the media, and through doctors or their parents. In some countries, individual schools are allowed to determine what AIDS education they will offer. In other countries, this is determined by legislation passed by central government. And in other countries – especially poor ones that are severely affected by HIV – AIDS education is imported by foreign governments, charities and NGOs, that come in to the country and deliver AIDS education as part of a larger package of HIV prevention work.
AIDS education for young people today falls generally into one of two categories: either 'abstinence-only', or 'comprehensive'. These are actually types of sex education, rather than AIDS education specifically - AIDS education in many schools comes as a part of a sex education program, if it occurs at all. The type of AIDS education program that is offered usually depends on the attitudes of those who determine the syllabus content. Right-wing organisations, some religious organisations, and the family-values lobby tend to prefer abstinence-only education, while those who feel that preventing young people from becoming infected with HIV is more important than keeping them ignorant about sexual behaviour prefer comprehensive AIDS education.

A report found that over 80% of abstinence-only curricula contained false or misleading information

Abstinence-only education teaches students that they must say no to sexual activity until they are married. This approach does not teach students anything about how to protect themselves from STDs or HIV, how pregnancy occurs or how to prevent it, and teaches about homosexuality and masturbation only as far as to say that they are wrong. Those who favour this method of education claim that teaching young people about sex will make them want to try it, thus increasing their risk of contracting HIV, amongst other things.
Abstinence-only education is popular in America, especially so now that it has a Republican President. A House of Representatives report at the end of 2004 found that over 80% of abstinence-only curricula contained false or misleading information. This is not only a concern for those living in America, but increasingly for the rest of the world, as America exports its HIV-prevention and education attitudes to countries with much higher levels of HIV infection. This is particularly worrying in that abstinence-only programmes have been shown not only to fail to reduce the numbers of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies seen in pupils, but recent studies indicate that they might actually be related to an increase in these problems.
Comprehensive AIDS education teaches about sexual abstinence until marriage, and teaches that it is one way of protecting yourself from HIV transmission, STIs and unwanted pregnancy. It also teaches that there are other ways of preventing these things, such as condom use. People who favour this approach take the perspective that, while abstaining from sex until marriage is a good idea and should possibly be encouraged, there will always be some young people that do not choose to abstain – and these people must be provided with information that enables them to protect themselves. This type of education also teaches not only about the dangers of drug use, but also about methods of HIV-prevention that drug users can employ – the use of clean needles, for example.
Abstinence-only and comprehensive AIDS education have been combined to produce abstinence-plus education. This type of education focuses on sexual abstinence until marriage as the preferred method of protection, but also provides information about contraception, sexuality and disease prevention. Many abstinence-only campaigners complain that abstinence-plus and comprehensive education are the same thing, although abstinence-plus educators claim that this type of course contains more focus on sexual abstinence until marriage.
There has been debate for many years over which form of sex education is most effective in terms of preventing underage sex, unwanted pregnancy and STD and HIV transmission, although most studies seem to show that comprehensive sex and AIDS education is at least as effective as abstinence-only – and probably more so. However, currently the trend in America – and which is being exported to much of the developing world – is towards abstinence-only education. If it is as unsuccessful as studies indicate it to be, then we can expect this morality-induced type of education to become responsible for an increase in HIV figures amongst the young, especially in high-prevalence parts of the world to which America has taken its methods.
Fifteen percent of Americans believe that schools should teach only about abstinence from sexual intercourse and should not provide information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraception. Forty-six percent believe that the most appropriate approach is abstinence-plus. Almost half of those surveyed felt that the word ‘abstinence’ included not only sexual intercourse, but ‘passionate kissing’ and ‘masturbation’, too.

What types of AIDS education can be offered outside schools?

Not all young people are fortunate enough to attend school. This might be for one of a variety of reasons. In some countries, it is necessary to pay for schooling, and poor families may be unable to afford to send a child to school, or may be unable to send all their children to school. Sometimes children will be required to work, making them unavailable for school. In other areas, young people may live in areas where a local school is not accessible. In some situations, young people may have been excluded from school for reasons that might be due to the young person’s behaviour, academic or intellectual abilities, or due to discrimination. Some young people play truant, and will have only very limited attendance. The proportion of young people who attend school differs markedly in various parts of the world.
Clearly, although AIDS education offered through the school might reach many young people, it will not reach all, and other forms of education are required.
One of these is the media. Most young people will, at some time, be exposed to the media. This can include newspapers, television, books, radio, and also traditional media such as street performances or murals. One advantage of media-based AIDS education is that it can target specific groups amongst the population. If the message is to be targeted at young people, then it will be placed in media that are favoured by this audience.

Many countries have tried some form of AIDS education advertisements, films, or announcements. A good example of this is the LoveLife campaign in South Africa, an education program ‘by young people, for young people’. LoveLife used eye-catching posters and billboards to tell young people that sex was fun, but that it could be dangerous, too. The campaign also inserted its message into TV soaps that were popular with young people, and used rap and kwaito music to get its message across.
There are, however, problems with media-based campaigns. It is hard to know to what extent the AIDS information has reached young people, and it is difficult to gain continued funding for initiatives whose success is so hard to measure.
Another way in which young people receive information about sex and HIV is through their peers. This is something that happens anyway to a great extent – many young people receive their first information about sexuality from their friends, although this information is often distorted and inaccurate. This type of peer education can be harnessed, though, and used to convey accurate, targeted information. Peer education is, quite simply, the process by which a group is given information by one of their peers who has received training and accurate information. This is a method often used with groups which have been marginalised. Such groups might have cause to distrust information given to them by an authority figure; if the same information comes from a member of their own group, however, they may well listen. This method of information-provision is often used with such groups as sex workers, the homeless, or drug-users. There is no reason that this method shouldn’t be used with young people, however, and in many parts of the world, it is used. Indeed, it is particularly appropriate for young people who do not attend schools and will not have an opportunity to benefit from an AIDS education curriculum.

AIDS education for the future

Although the debate continues about how much – if any – AIDS education young people should receive, studies continue to show that being informed about the facts and the dangers of HIV and AIDS enables young people to protect themselves and is a crucial tool in the battle against HIV. There is no cure or vaccine for HIV, so prevention is the only way in which we can place any limits on the epidemic. One of the most economical and effective means of HIV prevention is education – involving young people themselves in the HIV prevention effort.
On a global level, America’s disposition towards the promotion of abstinence-only education is cause for concern. America’s spending on HIV prevention around the world exceeds that of any other country, and is to be welcomed – as long as it doesn’t use this money to promote its pro-abstinence-only views of AIDS education. These views – which have been shown to be less successful than comprehensive AIDS education techniques which include an abstinence element – may prove to be damaging to America’s domestic AIDS prevention work 4. When exported to high-prevalence countries in Africa, they could prove disastrous.
Whenever educators and planners ask, and listen to young people, they are told time and time again that young people overwhelmingly ask for adequate AIDS education. In most parts of the world, this means more AIDS education than they are presently getting. Young people know that they have the right to the information that enables them to safeguard their lives and those of their sexual partners – they must be listened to, and provided with that information clearly, openly and honestly.


the source: AIDS Education & Young People


ur feedback awaited till the next post

HIV and aids education: Why and How?

Why HIV/AIDS education?

Each year there are more and more new HIV infections, which shows that people either aren't learning the message about the dangers of HIV, or are unable or unwilling to act on it. Many people are dangerously ignorant about the virus, with surveys around the world showing alarmingly low levels of awareness and understanding about HIV amongst many groups. Education can help to overcome such ignorance, and thereby prevent HIV infections from occuring.

Education needs to be an ongoing process, because each generation of young people need to be informed about how they can protect themselves from HIV as they grow up. Older generations, who have already hopefully received some AIDS education, may need the message reinforced, so that they continue to take precautions against HIV infection, and are able to inform younger people of the dangers.

There are three main reasons for AIDS education:

• To prevent new infections from taking place This can be seen as consisting of two processes: firstly, giving people information about HIV and AIDS, such as how they are transmitted and how people can protect themselves from infection. Secondly, people must be taught how to put this information to use and act on it practically - how to get and use condoms, how to suggest and practice safer sex, how to prevent infection in a medical environment or when injecting drugs.

• To improve quality of life for HIV positive people Too often, AIDS education is seen as being something which should be targeted only at people who are not infected with HIV in order to prevent them from becoming infected. When AIDS education with HIV positive people is considered at all it is frequently seen only in terms of preventing new infections by teaching HIV+ people about the importance of not passing on the virus. An important and commonly-neglected aspect of AIDS education with HIV positive people is enabling and empowering them to improve their quality of life. HIV positive people have varying educational needs, but among them are the need to be able to access medical services and drug provision and the need to be able to find appropriate emotional and practical support and help

• To reduce stigma and discrimination In many countries there is a great deal of fear and stigmatisation of people who are HIV positive. This fear is too often accompanied by ignorance, resentment and ultimately, anger. Sometimes the results of prejudice and fear can be extreme, with HIV positive people being burned to death in India, and many families being forced to leave their homes across the United States when neighbours discover a family-member's positive status. Discrimination against positive people can help the AIDS epidemic to spread, because if people are fearful of being tested for HIV, then they are more likely to pass the infection to someone else without knowing.

Who needs to be educated?

Anyone who is vulnerable to AIDS – and almost everyone is vulnerable, unless they know how to protect themselves. It's not only young people, injecting drug users or gay men who become infected - the virus has affected a cross-section of society. This means that education ought to be aimed at all parts of society, not only those groups who are seen as being particularly high-risk. For instance, there may be a lot of AIDS education aimed at young people, but very little that targets adults, and this may lead to a rise in HIV infection rates amongst older age-groups. The people who are most urgently in need of HIV education are those who think they're not at risk.
In 1987 in the UK, a leaflet about AIDS was delivered to every household, and the government also launched a major advertising campaign with the slogan "AIDS: Don't Die of Ignorance" This is an example of non-targeted education, or rather, education with a very broad target, intended to blanket the whole population. To plan an effective AIDS education strategy with smaller sections of the population, it helps to know the characteristics of the group who are to be educated. It is possible to identify three distinct groups of people who require targeted education:

• People who have not yet been educated and may be at risk of becoming infected. This usually means young people, who need to know the risks involved in unsafe sex and drug use before they are old enough to find out for themselves.

• People who have already been educated for whom the education was not effective. If AIDS education were completely effective, there wouldn't be nearly so many new infections. These infections do not only occur amongst young people - many people who have already experienced AIDS education continue to become infected with HIV.

  " A few months after we started having unprotected sex, I fell gravely ill. . . I recovered slowly but . . . I guess the warning signs have been there since I fell sick earlier this year, I'm educated on HIV and some of my symptoms literally had the warning bells ringing inside my head. Still, the shock of discovering my status is something I will never wish on my worst enemy. "

  - TK, a South African woman -

• People who are already infected. Initially, this must involve an element of counselling and support, and must teach them how about living well with HIV, the tests they may need to have, and the medications they may need to take. They must also learn about HIV transmission and safer sex, for two reasons - they need to know how to live positively without passing the virus on to anyone else, and they need to know how to avoid coming into contact with a strain of the virus that differs from the one they are already have.

On top of this, everyone needs to learn how and why not to discriminate against positive people. People who are not HIV positive must learn about how the virus is transmitted in order that they are able to protect themselves from infection. At the same time, they must also learn how the virus is not transmitted. People need to know that they cannot become infected from things such as sharing food, towels or toilets. This will help to reduce discrimination against positive people by reducing ignorance and fear.
The only people who do not fall into one of these groups are those who have received AIDS education, have taken it in, and have the resources to turn knowledge into action. One group who should hopefully fall into this category are AIDS educators. This may seem obvious, but in many cases, teachers may require teaching themselves. They may be called upon to act as AIDS educators when they themselves have little experience or knowledge of the subject. Peer educators must also receive training, even if they themselves are HIV-positive. Information for teachers and HIV educators can be found on our lessons and activity plans page.
If AIDS education that had been done up until now had been fully effective, then there wouldn't have been 4.3 million new infections in 2006. It is clear that the campaigns carried out so far have failed to prevent the spread of HIV, so the message needs to be repeated, in different forms, until people appreciate it, or until, hopefully, education is no longer needed.
What form should AIDS education take?

AIDS education doesn't always take place in a classroom. It can be presented in many ways and put across by many forms of media, which should be selected with the target group in mind. Some people can be best reached via newspapers and magazines, whilst other people might be more used to street theatre as a form of media. AIDS education needs to embrace culturally appropriate and relevant media.
These might include radio, television, billboard advertising, street theatre, comic strips, etc. Sometimes AIDS education is about giving people information which they will remember on a long term basis, about how to protect themselves, the difference between HIV and AIDS, and helping to reduce discrimination. On other occasions, an education strategy might intend to have a more immediate effect and target people when they are most likely to take part in risky behaviour - in nightclubs or holiday resorts, for example.
There is no set or prescribed form that AIDS education should take, but when considering an education campaign, the following points are relevant:

• What age are the people to be educated?
• Where and when will the target group be most receptive?
• Are there cultural issues to be considered? For example, attitudes to sexuality, or laws against portrayal of explicit images or language.
• Are the people to be educated already sexually aware?
• Have the people been exposed to AIDS education before?
• Are the people literate?
• What language do they speak?
• Is the education program targeted at a specific risk-group - e.g. injecting drug users? What is the best way to reach the group being targeted?
• Is it better to tell people how they should behave or inform them of the dangers and let them decide?
• Are people able to do what you're suggesting they do? There's no point in advising people to use condoms if none are available to them, or to use clean needles if needle exchanges are illegal.

Different people, different messages

If AIDS education had completely succeeded, there wouldn't be many new infections and you probably wouldn't be reading this. It is very difficult to say for sure whether there would have been many more infections were it not for the campaigns to date, but what is certain is that there has been a huge number of new infections in spite of them. In many countries, AIDS education began shortly after the epidemic began to take hold. Governments tend to react in response to public health problems, rather than to avert them before they occur.
Messages warning about sexual matters and HIV come to us from a number of different sources, amongst them schools, our peers, religion, the legal system, and the government. Those messages are not always accurate, and they don't always agree.
Mixed messages

'The media' is a term which covers a number of different organisations. Both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, magazines, the internet, television, billboard advertising, leaflets - all come under the umbrella of 'media'. It's hardly surprising that they communicate in different ways, but it's alarming that they sometimes communicate different messages.
The messages from the media and those from the government are not always the same. The government should be driven by a desire to inform the public to the best of it's ability, whilst the media usually wants to make a profit and keep people interested. Sometimes the media may focus on a particular, often controversial aspect of the HIV epidemic in order to capture people's interest, which can ultimately be damaging.

Increasing discrimination?


Some forms of advertising-based education, particularly, try to get the safer sex message across by making people afraid of the potential consequences of becoming infected with HIV.
This can, in certain circumstances, be an effective way of bringing about changes in people's behaviour, but it also carries the risk of increasing stigmatisation of positive people by making them appear to be at fault for having become infected. This is especially the case where targeted education campaigns highlight the dangers to specific risk groups - injecting drug users, for example, or prostitutes. No one deserves to become infected with HIV, however it happens. There is also the danger that this type of advertising may make the target audience afraid of positive people, by portraying them as a danger.
left picture : The Grim Reaper. Is this an appropriate image of a HIV positive person? And is it likely to reduce discrimination against positive people?
Somebody else's problem

In much of the developed world, AIDS education still has to correct misapprehensions spawned by media portrayals of the epidemic. Much of the media still does not represent the broad face of the epidemic, but prefers to adopt the 'somebody else's problem' approach by focusing it's attention on risks to specific groups - young gay men, injecting drug users, and more recently people from Africa. AIDS education is in the position of having to convince people that they are not safe simply by virtue of having not being in one of these groups.
Moral views

A recent study has shown that young people who take one of the increasingly-popular 'abstinence pledges' are just as likely to become infected with STIs as those who don't. This is not because they have as many sexual partners, but because they are more ignorant about the risks of infection - and because this approach supports the 'somebody else's problem' attitude.

Nevertheless, moral attitudes are being allowed to dictate the practicalities of AIDS education, especially in the USA. President Bush's 2007 budget allows for $204 million to be spent on abstinence-only programs. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (a leading sexual health adovacate and provider) argues that:
"Americans should be outraged that huge amounts of money are being poured into ineffective abstinence-only programs for purely ideological reasons. Let me be clear, it isn't the 'abstinence' we object to, it's the 'only'. Abstinence should be part of any responsible sex education program, but it is deeply irresponsible to omit lifesaving, medically accurate information that teens critically need."2

Human Rights Watch argues that this form of education actively opposes basic human rights. According to a 2002 Human Rights Watch report on abstinence-only sex education in Texas, Bush's home state, a condoms-don't-work ad campaign led sexually active young people to have unprotected sex.
Religious messages

In many places, any discussion of something involving sex will eventually be commented on by religious groups. AIDS education has been no exception. In the US, particularly, education in schools is increasingly being suborned by those with a religious agenda, and sex education of young people is increasingly focusing more on morality and less on physical know-how. Education about the dangers of HIV is one victim of this approach to sex education, as young people are increasingly told that sex before marriage is sinful, that condoms don't work, and that they should practise sexual abstinence until marriage.

The Vatican, for example, says that ‘abuse occurs whenever sex education is given to children by teaching them all the intimate details of genital relationships’

The Pope and the head of the Vatican's office on the family have also endorsed the claim - which has been proven to be wrong - that sperm and the AIDS virus can pass through latex condoms. The Vatican says that "safer sex is. . . a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS".
Increasingly, faith-based groups are becoming very involved in AIDS education, especially American right-wing Christian organisations, which are taking a growing interest in Africa. If these groups are to gain funding, it is very important that the money they receive isn't spent on religious messages. Bibles may help some people who are in distress, but they can't take the place of anti-retroviral medication.

Government control

In many parts of the world, there is considerable governmental control of the media. It is also common to find legal constraints on the education that young people receive, and in some places, sex education is actually illegal.

Some types of AIDS education have been criminalized in various parts of the world by laws aimed at suppressing the target groups.

Even in highly developed countries, there are still often legal barriers to sex education. In the UK for instance, section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 prohibited the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities until recently. Commonly this meant that local authorities, unsure of what was meant by 'promotion', would simply err on the side of caution and keep their sexual health education to the bare minimum necessary for biology lessons. A large aspect of AIDS education was ignored in schools, actually making it almost illegal for young gay men to be informed about protecting themselves. It is likely that this piece of legislation is responsible for HIV infections which might otherwise have been prevented.
Some types of AIDS education have been criminalized in various parts of the world by laws aimed at suppressing the target groups. In parts of Central America, for example, projects aimed at educating gay men about the dangers of HIV have been forced to close, and in much of the US, programmes giving information and clean needles to injecting drug users have been banned.
Even today in the UK, lobbyists such as the group 'Family and Youth Concern' are against sex education in schools, saying that it is tantamount to child-abuse, a subject which the UK media has recently made highly charged.
Governmental control can be a positive thing - laws have been passed to reduce discrimination against HIV positive people in the labour market, for example. But - as in the case of Section 28 - it can also have a negative impact on the spread of the epidemic.
Learning from the past

The first major government education campaign in the UK came in 1986 when the government launched a leaflet campaign, targeting every household in the UK with the 'AIDS - Don't Die of Ignorance' slogan. Around this time, the media covered stories about gay men and drug users becoming HIV positive, whilst portraying people who had become infected through contaminated blood transfusions as the innocent victims of a disease spread by the immorality of others. Tabloid newspapers carried scare-stories about people being attacked with dirty needles - much more memorable than the government's leaflet. This is a formula which is still, to some extent, true today.
In these early years, much attention was given to the fact that the virus seemed to be especially prevalent amongst such groups as gay men and people who shared needles. Targeted education programs aimed at harm reduction amongst these groups may have been effective to some extent but, when disseminated by the mass-media, this message also reached people who were not in the target group. This seems to have had the effect of giving people the impression that, if the