Abstract

PIP: The World Health Organization and UNESCO have collaborated to establish and evaluate 7 pilot projects for school-based AIDS education in Ethiopia, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Jamaica, Venezuela, and the Pacific. By training teachers and developing appropriate teaching and learning materials, they hope to add AIDS education into school curricula. Thus far, 4 projects have been completed. Review indicates that given parental support, school-based AIDS education may work in developing countries at both primary and secondary levels; initial assessment studies are valuable in program design; these programs help to increase family and community awareness; students gain knowledge and may also tend to discriminate less against those infected with HIV; prevention skills are the most difficult to teach and are rarely of primary focus; information in curricula on condom value and use is acceptable to education authorities; teaching and learning material prototypes are useful to educational planners and trainers; and teacher training should include small-group discussions on personal attitudes toward sexuality.