Prevention - HIV/AIDS

HIV is responsible for more deaths each year than any other infectious disease. EDC collaborates with partners all over the world to create and disseminate culturally relevant, science-based prevention strategies, which have proven to be effective in curbing the disease. We also work at both the policy and community levels to rebuild educational systems in regions where schools and teaching forces have been decimated by HIV.

Hope on Wheels

Mobile health and computer units visit schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

In the Umkhanyakude district of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, learning conditions are bare bones. As many as 100 students cram into a classroom in schools that have little water or electricity. Noises distract, from the wooden chairs against cement floors to rain hammering on the corrugated roof.

EDC South Africa Project Featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show

An EDC project that creates health education materials to combat HIV in a beleaguered region of South Africa is receiving attention on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

WHO Global AIDS Project (GAP)

HHD/EDC is working closely with Education International, a federation of teacher unions, and WHO to help teacher unions in Haiti and 11 African countries conduct an HIV/AIDS prevention program. The project’s objectives are to help teachers protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs); advocate for school-based HIV prevention programs and policies; and use skills-based health education in the classroom to prevent HIV/AIDS and other STIs among students.

Linking Corporations, Communities in Asia

At a community center in Bangkok, small-business owners are logging on to the Internet for the first time, using Microsoft Word, Excel spreadsheets, and other business software. These local entrepreneurs—including fruit sellers, garment makers, and artisans—are learning their technology skills courtesy of the multinational computer firm Hewlett Packard (HP).

Employment: A Tool to Combat HIV, AIDS

Unemployment and HIV and AIDS have converged in Africa to create economic and social havoc. The population of young people 15–24 is growing, jobs are scarce, and HIV and AIDS are rampant.

First Lady Laura Bush Visits Radio Education Programs in Africa

During a five-day visit to Africa, First Lady Laura Bush met with students who are listening to radio to learn basic education, life skills, and HIV/AIDS prevention. For millions of children across Africa who don’t have access to traditional schooling and for teachers who do not have access to adequate training, the radio programs reach them in community centers, their homes, and in school settings. Mrs. Bush, accompanied by her daughter, Jenna, visited schools in Zambia and Mali that use the participatory programs, created for each country by Education Development Center, Inc.

Documentaries Explore HIV/AIDS Crisis in Thailand

EDC staff in Thailand enlisted the help of local university students to bring greater public attention to the scope of the HIV/AIDS crisis in that country. In partnership with film students from Chulalongkorn University (Chula), project staff researched, wrote, and produced three short documentary films that report on factors contributing to the epidemic, the plight of children orphaned by it, and promising new community-based responses.

Thai Youth Create HIV/AIDS Films

To publicize the scope of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Thailand, EDC staff turned to local film students.

Just Back: Scott Pulizzi

Scott Pulizzi, of EDC’s Health and Human Development Programs (HHD), recently returned from Kenya and Uganda, his latest of more than 30 trips to Africa, where he is working to alleviate HIV. He talked with us about what he’s learned through his special connections to teachers there, and how their experience has changed his thinking and reinvigorated his work.

Combating HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean

Preventing HIV/AIDS is the goal of EDC’s partnership with the University of the West Indies. EDC’s Health and Human Development Programs (HHD) is strengthening the capacity of educators by promoting advocacy and leadership development to address prevention, voluntary counseling and testing, and care and bereavement.