Click the links below to go to each section of the overview located on this page.

• A Unique Approach: Teachers Helping Teachers Fight AIDS
• A Staggering Crisis
• A Partnership of Teachers with Teachers
• Creating a Model Program
• The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign
• A Tradition of International Involvement

A Unique Approach: Teachers Helping Teachers Fight AIDS
For many years, a culture of silence has surrounded the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Effective education and prevention campaigns have not been implemented to the extent required by the crisis. In too many African countries, teachers have been unable to break through the stigma associated with the disease. Now, more than ever, effective prevention programs are needed to help teachers in Africa understand how the HIV virus is transmitted, and how behavioral changes can reduce the growing rates of infection.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign -- a multi-year, multi-country project -- provides African teachers with the resources and support they need to develop effective peer-education programs to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, along with counseling and care for those who are sick. Building on a long tradition of international professional and union collaboration, African teachers' unions and the AFT are acting as catalysts to create a self-sustaining network of trained HIV/AIDS peer-educators and counselors in African schools. (back to top)

AFT's Unique Qualifications

The AFT's extensive experience with workplace-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs and our deep involvement in international programs uniquely qualifies us to be of help. For two decades, we have worked to arm our members with the accurate information that can help them, their communities and their students combat the spread of AIDS. In addition, the AFT has years of experience working with teacher and other labor organizations internationally, developing strong partnerships and relationships based on trust and mutual respect. With our experiences in workplace AIDS education, and our ongoing relationships with African teacher organizations, the AFT can make a significant contribution to help African educators develop effective peer-education programs to fight the AIDS epidemic.

A Staggering Crisis

Educators in Africa and the children they serve face a bleak future. In several African countries, as many teachers die of AIDS each year as qualify to teach. Education ministries are closing schools, the number of AIDS orphans is increasing rapidly, and fewer individuals are entering the teaching profession. AIDS deaths among teachers are expected to climb dramatically over the next ten years.

In South Africa:

• An average of 1,000 teachers a year are dying of AIDS
• 420,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS
• Half of today's 15-year-olds will die of AIDS in the next ten years

In Zimbabwe:

• More than 1.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS
• More than a quarter of the population between ages 15 and 49 are HIV positive
• More than 30 percent of the country's teachers carry the HIV virus

In Kenya:

• An average of ten teachers die each week from AIDS
• More than 3 million people will die in the next decade from AIDS
• 20 percent of students between ages 14 and 17 are HIV positive, with the infection rate among girls substantially higher than among boys

In Zambia:

• AIDS annually claims the lives of about half the number of newly trained teachers
• There are 620,000 AIDS orphans
• 20 percent of the population is HIV infected

The statistics throughout Africa tell a similar story of devastation. The need for effective AIDS prevention programs cannot be ignored. (back to top)

A Partnership of Teachers with Teachers

The challenge posed by the AIDS crisis in Africa must be met. We know how to reduce HIV infection and AIDS. We know from our experiences in the United States and in other nations that prevention programs and behavioral changes can stem the spread of HIV. In African countries such as Uganda and Senegal, similar prevention programs have led to a sharp reduction in rates of infection. Sharing accurate information and breaking down the barriers of silence are essential components of effective AIDS prevention programs. Every constituency of the AFT, including educators, healthcare workers and public employees, has direct experience with workplace HIV/AIDS education that can be of help to our counterparts in Africa. Working in collaborative partnerships with African teacher unions, the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign focuses on implementing proven, effective peer-based programs to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Unions Working Together

 Teacher unions in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries have agreed to work with the AFT to develop and implement effective programs in HIV/AIDS education and prevention, counseling and referral, and care for teachers and their families affected by AIDS. These are African programs, training African teachers to be peer-educators, who work with their colleagues in schools throughout the participating countries. The AFT provides the technical assistance and support African unions need to develop accurate training materials and conduct effective peer-education and awareness programs. Working closely with our counterparts in African nations, we help them identify the cultural, professional and behavioral changes that are required to halt the spread of HIV. (back to top)

Since May 2001, the AFT and the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) have collaborated in a groundbreaking pilot project to address the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on teachers in Zimbabwe. As a respected union representing 53,000 teachers, ZIMTA is poised to play a pivotal role in responding to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. The union's network of trainers and school representatives throughout the country provides a cadre of individuals who can provide accurate and effective AIDS prevention information to teachers and others in their communities.

Representatives from the AFT have met with union leaders and teachers in Zimbabwe, along with government health and education officials, to identify what information on HIV/AIDS teachers need and to determine how best to share that information. Together, the AFT and ZIMTA have developed training materials and conducted workshops to train the trainers as peer-educators, giving them the knowledge and skills needed to conduct professional teacher education workshops at the local level.

Drawing on the AFT's long experience in developing HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness programs, ZIMTA has been able to develop a specialized work-based training program that can bring accurate information about AIDS to every school in the country. All that is needed is the funding to do it. (back to top)

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign

In addition to developing teacher-training programs in Africa, the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign is working to raise the funds needed to help our African teacher organizations expand their effective programs. We are working to increase awareness of the African AIDS crisis in our communities, schools and workplaces.

We are providing information to other organizations, such as unions and educational groups, to help them get involved. We are raising funds among our members through the sale of ribbons and posters and we have created this Web site for use by American teachers and other concerned citizens to serve as a clearinghouse of ideas on:

• Awareness-raising projects that can increase student understanding of the AIDS epidemic;
• Classroom- or school-based activities that can increase funding for the efforts in Africa;
• and Links to organizations working on the AIDS crisis in Africa. (back to top)

A Tradition of International Involvement

The spread of HIV/AIDS represents one of the major challenges facing the world as we enter the 21st century. The AFT's campaign is based on the belief that there is nothing more important we can do for teachers in Africa than assist them in their ongoing effort to combat the AIDS epidemic.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign is a project of the AFT Educational Foundation (AFTEF), a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization created in 1985 to promote the improvement of education in the U.S. and abroad. In the past 15 years, the AFTEF has conducted development programs in more than 30 countries around the world. Funding for our work has come from many public and private sources, including the U.S. State, Labor and Education Departments, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Better World Campaign.

Our collaborators in the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign include such organizations as Education International, an alliance of trade unions representing 24 million educators in more than 130 countries, USAID and the CDC.

The AFT has a long tradition of involvement in international affairs, fighting consistently for the freedom and dignity of teachers, free trade unions and workers' rights throughout the world. Our international efforts have taken many forms, including: assistance for teachers fighting for democracy in Chile and South Africa; democracy education programs for teachers in Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics; and resources and assistance to strengthen teacher unions in many developing countries. Today, we recognize that the spread of AIDS in Africa and other regions of the globe poses as great a threat to the security and stability of the world as did previous threats, such as fascism and communism.

What if We Could Do Something To Help?

We can help, by working with teacher organizations in Africa to develop effective programs to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign will provide African teachers with the financial and technical assistance they desperately need. At the same time, we will energize our members' awareness of the AIDS crisis in Africa and engage them in activities to provide help and resources for African teachers. The campaign is part of our union's proud history of involvement in the world. It builds on our tradition of engagement. It represents our desire to offer hope and help to people in need. (back to top)