The Global Campaign for Education recently published a report entitled "Deadly
Inertia: a cross-country study of educational responses to HIV/AIDS", which charts
the educational responses to HIV and AIDS in 18 countries across Asia, Africa and
Latin America.

In 2004, education coalitions and HIV/AIDS coalitions came together to discuss their
Ministry of Education's responses, as well as their own. Although varied, certain
conclusions resonate across all the countries:
- governments are turning a blind eye to the educational needs of orphans and HIV
positive students
- insufficient action is being taken to prevent the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on
teachers
- donor funding is being directed towards a series of stand-alone initiatives that
enjoy little ownership by government
- too much government and donor money is being spent on poorly designed
interventions that go unimplemented because the most basic foundations - resources,
ownership, training, even basic data - have not been put in place first.

The AIDS epidemic has become a global crisis currently threatening the lives of
around 38 million people and devastating entire societies. Education systems have a
critical role to play in fighting this epidemic, because of their capacity to reach
very large numbers of young people with life-saving information and skills.

A complete primary education can halve the risk of HIV infection for young people;
and in fact, basic education has such a powerful preventative effect, especially for
young women, that it has been described as the 'social vaccine'. As the epidemic
gathers pace, however, it poses increasing risks to education itself, threatening to
stop children from enrolling, teachers from teaching and schools from functioning.[Source: CRIN]

For more information, contact:
Tania Boler, Senior Education and HIV Adviser
ActionAid International
Email: Tania.Boler@actionaid.org