The education sector plays a key “external� role in preventing and reducing the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. It also plays an important “internal� role in providing access to care, treatment, and support for teachers and education staff, a group that in many countries represents more than 60 percent of the public sector workforce. The education sector can also have a critically important positive effect on the future: Even in the worst-affected countries, most schoolchildren are not infected. For these children, there is a chance to live lives free from AIDS if they can be educated on the knowledge and values that can protect them as they grow up. The authors of 'Accelerating the Education Sector Response to HIV' explore the experiences of education sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa as they scale up their responses to HIV/AIDS within the Accelerate Initiative Working Group, established in 2002 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Inter-Agency Task Team on Education. This book demonstrates that leadership by the ministries of education and commitment from key development partners are crucial for mobilizing activities and that full participation of all stakeholders is required for effective implementation. This book summarizes the experiences of technical Focal Points from the 37 ministries of education in Sub-Saharan Africa, which are represented on the sub-regional networks for HIV and Education. These experiences prove that the education sector response can play a crucially important role in the multisectoral national responses to this epidemic.

The Caribbean Region is second only to Africa in the impact of HIV and AIDS. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has responded to this challenge by promoting a multisectoral response to the epidemic. UNESCO has provided regional leadership in strengthening the education sector component of this response. In 2005, UNESCO launched, with CARICOM and the World Bank, a regioinal dialogue involving representatives of Ministries of Education, national HIV and AIDS coordinating councils, development partners, and regional institutions providing leadership in the HIV response, which led to the development and endorsement of a regional Proposal for Action: Accelerating the Education Sector Response to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean Region. In June 2006, Ministers of Education and representatives of National AIDS AUthorities met in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, under the auspices of the CARICOM Council on Human and Social Development, and agreed to promote education sector leadership in addressing HIV and AIDS and to create a supportive policy and financial environment at national and regional levels. This report describes the development of these regional processes and how they have led to a stronger education sector response at the regional level. It also focuses on developments in three countries (Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Lucia) as examples of how this regional effort translates into action at the national level.

The Caribbean Region is second only to Africa in the impact of HIV & AIDS. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has responded to this challenge by promoting a multisectoral response to the epidemic. UNESCO has provided regional leadership in strengthening the education sector component of this response. In 2005, UNESCO launched, with CARICOM and the World Bank, a regioinal dialogue involving representatives of Ministries of Education, national HIV & AIDS coordinating councils, development partners, and regional institutions providing leadership in the HIV response, which led tot he development and endorsement of a regional Proposal for Action: Accelerating the Education Sector Response to HIV & AIDS in the Caribbean Region. In June 2006, Ministers of Education and representatives of National AIDS AUthorities met in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, under the auspices of the CARICOM Council on Human and Social Development, and agreed to promote education sector leadership in addressing HIV & AIDS and to create a supportive policy and financial environment at national and regional levels. This report describes the development of these regional processes and how they have led to a stronger education sector response at the regional level. It also focuses on developments in three countries (Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Lucia) as examples of how this regional effort translates into action at the national level.

More than three decades after the identification of the virus, HIV continues to affect millions of people worldwide. Much progress has been made and infection rates are down in a number of countries. From the beginning the education sector has played a central role in responding to HIV, though its role and the contribution of school-based HIV education has been the subject of much debate. This book explores the major debates and provides an overview of how the role of the education sector and approaches to HIV education have evolved, what has been learned, emerging challenges and opportunities, and proposes a way forward for the education sector to contribute to the prevention of new infections, treatment and care, and reduce stigma and discrimination. The Education on the Move series seeks to bring research knowledge produced by various academic disciplines and within various organizations to those who can shape educational policies and drive reforms.