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Despite the global prevalence of HIV/AIDS which has devastated several countries and affected every single country in the world, there are still large numbers of people who are not aware of the dangers of the disease and the methods of preventing it.
According to the experts, about 40,000 new HIV infection cases are reported each year in the world. AIDS education remains the essential worldwide method to prevent the disease from spreading. This specific education is aimed to reach all ages, especially young adults, who are sexually active. However, teaching AIDS education in schools has become a controversial issue in some societies because of culture, religion and tradition.
The main reason why AIDS education should be taught in middle and high schools is due to the growing trends of sexually active teens. The motivation for teaching it in schools is because almost all young people attend school at some point in their lives. AIDS education in other ways, or locations, may not be as universal to reach the young population. For example, not all teens go to the same medical facilities, churches, or organisations. Plus, these places may not provide or may have misleading AIDS education materials. However, schools are a place where students can receive the same message. Based on tradition, parents are supposed to tell their children about sex and the responsibilities and dangers that go along with it. On the other hand, parents are sometimes not equipped with updated AIDS information. Some parents may be embarrassed to have the conversation or may block the AIDS topic altogether due to moral beliefs.
But despite decades of AIDS prevention, the epidemic is still prevalent throughout the world. Every year, increasing numbers of young people are infected with HIV and continue to die. AIDS education remains the global effort against this disease. The education system is the most important means of reaching young people to stop the spread of AIDS.
Against this backdrop, it is most encouraging news that NAPS will be focusing more on youth, particularly those in schools, as a priority group for action with regard to education about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
According to Programme Manager of NAPS, Dr Shanti Singh,“The youth population, while we don’t have any prevalence study among that population, we know it’s one of our priority groups for action. So we’ve been working with the youths,” she said.
She related that NAPS classifies youth as a priority group for action because of the findings of surveys over the years, making particular reference to biological and behavioural surveillance surveys (BBSS) conducted in 2004 and 2009, which questioned the youths about their general knowledge of HIV, how it is transmitted, and how to prevent its transmission, among other things.
Dr. Singh noted that when the findings of those two surveys are compared, there was a significant increase of HIV knowledge among in-school youth, which was perhaps the largest increase in knowledge.
Dr. Singh added that in terms of the in-school youth, knowledge of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), approximately 75% of them had relatively good knowledge in 2004; while, in 2009, that amount went up to about 93%.
According to her, with particular reference to the in-school youth population, the Ministry of Education has been working on the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) programme, which she deems as the core initiative to work with this population.
Targeting youth in any awareness and education campaign is definitely the way to go because when habits and attitudes are inculcated in young minds they most likely remain with them for life and therefore are likely to pass on these positive, acquired habits and attitudes to their children.
In addition, youths can help to educate their parents and the older sections of the population on particular issues.
So NAPS should be commended for moving in the present direction and perhaps should seek closer collaboration with the Ministry of Education to further raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
According to the experts, about 40,000 new HIV infection cases are reported each year in the world. AIDS education remains the essential worldwide method to prevent the disease from spreading. This specific education is aimed to reach all ages, especially young adults, who are sexually active. However, teaching AIDS education in schools has become a controversial issue in some societies because of culture, religion and tradition.
The main reason why AIDS education should be taught in middle and high schools is due to the growing trends of sexually active teens. The motivation for teaching it in schools is because almost all young people attend school at some point in their lives. AIDS education in other ways, or locations, may not be as universal to reach the young population. For example, not all teens go to the same medical facilities, churches, or organisations. Plus, these places may not provide or may have misleading AIDS education materials. However, schools are a place where students can receive the same message. Based on tradition, parents are supposed to tell their children about sex and the responsibilities and dangers that go along with it. On the other hand, parents are sometimes not equipped with updated AIDS information. Some parents may be embarrassed to have the conversation or may block the AIDS topic altogether due to moral beliefs.
But despite decades of AIDS prevention, the epidemic is still prevalent throughout the world. Every year, increasing numbers of young people are infected with HIV and continue to die. AIDS education remains the global effort against this disease. The education system is the most important means of reaching young people to stop the spread of AIDS.
Against this backdrop, it is most encouraging news that NAPS will be focusing more on youth, particularly those in schools, as a priority group for action with regard to education about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
According to Programme Manager of NAPS, Dr Shanti Singh,“The youth population, while we don’t have any prevalence study among that population, we know it’s one of our priority groups for action. So we’ve been working with the youths,” she said.
She related that NAPS classifies youth as a priority group for action because of the findings of surveys over the years, making particular reference to biological and behavioural surveillance surveys (BBSS) conducted in 2004 and 2009, which questioned the youths about their general knowledge of HIV, how it is transmitted, and how to prevent its transmission, among other things.
Dr. Singh noted that when the findings of those two surveys are compared, there was a significant increase of HIV knowledge among in-school youth, which was perhaps the largest increase in knowledge.
Dr. Singh added that in terms of the in-school youth, knowledge of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), approximately 75% of them had relatively good knowledge in 2004; while, in 2009, that amount went up to about 93%.
According to her, with particular reference to the in-school youth population, the Ministry of Education has been working on the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) programme, which she deems as the core initiative to work with this population.
Targeting youth in any awareness and education campaign is definitely the way to go because when habits and attitudes are inculcated in young minds they most likely remain with them for life and therefore are likely to pass on these positive, acquired habits and attitudes to their children.
In addition, youths can help to educate their parents and the older sections of the population on particular issues.
So NAPS should be commended for moving in the present direction and perhaps should seek closer collaboration with the Ministry of Education to further raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
