Ei-iE

Education International participated in the 15th annual meeting of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education which took place from 15- 17 June 2009 in Limerick, Ireland. A one day Symposium on the theme ‘Teachers and HIV & AIDS: reviewing achievements, identifying challenges’ preceded the meeting.

During the opening plenary, Helena Awurusa, Coordinator of the EFAIDS Programme for the Ghana National Association of Teachers presented the important role of the union in HIV education in Ghana and the support they provide to teachers affected by HIV. She highlighted that as the education sector (teachers, education workers, and students) comprises almost 30 percent of Ghana’s population, unions are influential in the national HIV response by encouraging teachers to talk and teach about HIV and AIDS with their colleagues and pupils.

EI also joined with the International Labour Organisation and the Education Development Center to host a parallel session on ‘Involving teachers: policy and management implications’. Jan Eastman, EI Deputy General Secretary give an overview of the EFAIDS Programme as a model of involving teachers in HIV prevention. Scott Pulizzi of EDC illustrated the importance of pre- and in-service training to make teachers effective leaders in national responses to HIV and AIDS. The ILO Workplace Policies and the progress on the ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work were introduced by Loretta Hieber-Girardet.

Achieving greater emphasis on teachers and HIV/AIDS in the overarching Education for All campaign was seen to be an important goal for the ongoing work of the UNAIDS IATT on Education.

Good discussion on many substantive issues continued at the ensuing meeting attended by the IATT partners. More on the topics discussed will be included in the next news update.