Promoting Education as Prevention

Can you read this sign?  

In rural Guinea, most women can’t. 

The more educated a young woman is, the less likely she is to become infected with HIV- and this is for a variety of reasons.  She is both more likely to protect herself and less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. She is less likely to engage in prostitution, and research shows again and again that women who have completed primary school are more likely to use condoms and less likely to have casual partners. 

The number of HIV prevention campaigns is multiplying, however, according to the Global Campaign for Education, “research shows that a primary education is the minimum threshold to benefit from [health information] programs.”  An education is required for girls to have the skills to actually absorb and process the information.  As a secondary benefit though, education also allows women the status to be able to act on the information learned- most notably to negotiate the terms of sexual relationships and refuse unsafe sex.  Furthermore, education also reduces violence again women and increases economic opportunities for women.

A 32-country study* showed that illiterate women were four times more likely than literate women to believe that there is no way to percent HIV infection.    As shown on the table below, Guinea has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world. 

Taken from The Girl Effect www.girleffect.org

Even worse news, unequal education, with more boys attending schools than girls, correlates with higher infection rates for both men and women. Another study showed that countries where the literacy gap between girls and boys was above 25 per cent were more likely to have generalized epidemics than countries with a smaller gaps.  

Despite the fact that general education has shown to be an important part of HIV prevention, many schools have not introduced HIV prevention into their curriculum.  In rural areas of Guinea, School-to-School implements HIV education as part of its School Health Initiative.

A young girl one of School-to-School's programs

With its Girls Education Program, School-to-School hopes to enable girls to attend school, impart them with the knowledge they need to protects themselves, and  encourage them to have the confidence to put that knowledge to good use.

To support School-to-School and  its Girls Education program, donate today. 

*Vandermoortele, J. and E. Delamonica. 2000. “Education ‘vaccine’ against HIV/AIDS.” Current Issues in Education.(1)