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Press Release

In fight against AIDS, UNICEF challenges leaders to do more with schools

28 November 2000: Citing new figures on the staggering impact of HIV/AIDS on children, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today challenged AIDS-ravaged countries to devote more resources, energy and creativity to using schools in the battle against the epidemic.

"Schools give the state a unique capacity to touch nearly every family, in every community, every day," Bellamy said as the UN unveiled the latest statistics on the AIDS pandemic. "Young people are motivated and eager to contribute in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and schools are well placed to provide them with information, develop their life skills and facilitate their involvement in their own communities to prevent infection and provide care for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. Why then, if this resource is so potentially powerful, aren't we investing more substantially in schools and education system?"

The annual report released today by UNAIDS underscores how education can halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. It says studies in Africa have found an increase in condom use and a decrease in casual sex among teenagers who attend school. For example, in Uganda, which has one of the most comprehensive prevention programmes in Africa, infection rates among educated women has dropped by more than half between 1995 and 1997.

But the numbers elsewhere show that HIV is infecting the young at an alarming rate. Since the publication of last year's report, an additional 600,000 children have acquired HIV and 500,000 have died. The report projects that in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa, one-third of today's 15-year-olds will die of AIDS in coming years.

A recent UNICEF survey also revealed widespread ignorance about how HIV spreads. In several countries, almost half of all girls age 15-19 did not to know that a person who looks healthy can be infected with HIV. In a number of countries where AIDS is epidemic, nearly half of sexually active girls age 15-19 believe they face no risk of contracting the disease. And in surveys in 17 countries, over half of adolescents - most of them girls - could not name a single method of protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS.

Bellamy challenged governments, local leaders, teachers, and young people themselves to make schools a hub of activity and enterprise centered not only on reading and writing but on stopping HIV. "We are talking about moving boldly beyond the conventional," Bellamy said. "We are talking about getting young people more engaged in AIDS education, about schools relating differently to young people - accepting their role as leaders in their own right. We're talking about communities bravely embracing needed change."

"The key to breaking the transmission rate lies with teens and young adults," Bellamy added. "Two years ago, governments committed to a goal of ensuring that prevalence among young people aged 15-25 is reduced globally by 2005, including by 25 per cent in the most affected countries. Our responsibility is to take this goal seriously and make it happen. At UNICEF, we think that success begins in the school."

Schools must also educate against gender discrimination, UNICEF noted. Such discrimination often leads to forced sex, which helps fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to UNICEF figures, women are up to four times more likely to get HIV from men than men are from women. "The theme of World AIDS Day is 'Men Make a Difference,'" Bellamy observed. "For that to happen, we must socialize boys to end gender bias while they are still in school."

Bellamy also noted the devastating impact that AIDS is having on schools. In the hardest hit countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, teachers are dying. More than 860,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa lost their teachers to AIDS in 1999 alone. Swaziland estimates that they will have to train twice as many teachers over the next 17 years just to keep services at 1997 levels. Children orphaned by AIDS (there are 11 million worldwide) are often forced to leave school to care for themselves and their siblings. Infected children may drop out because of discrimination in schools.

As each day goes by, the task of building schools in epidemic countries into effective weapons against HIV/AIDS becomes more difficult. "We need to save battered and depleted education systems, so that those education systems can save lives," Bellamy said.

Notable statistics:

· About 600,000 children under 15 were infected with HIV in 2000
· The number of children living with HIV/AIDS is 1.4 million
· 500,000 children died of AIDS in 2000, bringing the total to 4.3 million
· Almost a third of all people with HIV/AIDS are between the ages of 15 and 24 - some 10 million young people
· Every minute, six young people under the age of 25 become infected with HIV
· Girls and young women are more than 50 per cent more likely to contract HIV than boys and young men
· In 1999 alone, an estimated 860,000 primary school children in sub-Saharan Africa lost their teachers to AIDS
· In several countries, almost half of all girls age 15-19 do not know that a person who looks healthy can be infected with HIV and transmit it to others
· In a number of countries where AIDS is epidemic, nearly half of sexually active girls age 15-19 believe they face no risk of contracting the disease
· In surveys in 17 countries, over half of adolescents could not name a single method of protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS (more girls than boys).

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For further information, please contact:

Ruchira Gupta, UNICEF Media, New York (212) 326-7670
rgupta@unicef.org

Lynn Geldof, UNICEF Media, Geneva (41-79) 354-0213 (cell phone in Berlin)
lgeldof@unicef.org

B-roll footage available of UNICEF projects in Brazil, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia and Ukraine