New AIDS Program Launched with South African Unions

The collaborative partnership between the AFT and teacher unions in South Africa took a large step forward this month with the launching of a pilot program to combine peer education, HIV testing and counseling, plus treatment for South African teachers with HIV/AIDS.  As part of the project, 7,500 union school representatives will conduct training in three provinces (Kwa-Zulu Natal, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape) to fight the stigma of AIDS, extend prevention education, promote healthy living and encourage HIV testing and treatment.  In addition, private physicians, recruited and trained by the South Africa Medical Association, will provide anti-retroviral treatment to 2,300 teachers and their spouses. 

Approximately 4,000 teachers died last year of AIDS-related complications, and 12.7 percent are HIV-positive, according to a recent study of South African educators conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).  Infection rates are the highest in the provinces where the pilot project is being rolled out. Four South African teacher unions will participate in the project. Other partners include the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center and the Academy for Educational Development.

Chicago Teachers Union president Marilyn Stewart, an AFT vice president, represented both the AFT and the AFL-CIO at the Oct. 4 press conference in Soweto announcing the project.  "If the epidemic is to be curbed, we have to make sure that people get the information and life skills needed to protect themselves," Stewart said.  "This remains a challenge in every region of the world.  Even in the United States, where we have been facing the threat of HIV for more than two decades, we realize that our work is far from complete."

The South African project is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Other representatives who participated in the press conference in South Africa were Steve Coffman, United States Consular General in Johannesburg; Dr. Kgosi Letlape, president of the South Africa Medical Association; Juliette Lenoir, director of the Solidarity Center/South Africa; and Rose Mary Romano, director, Academy for Educational Development. (10-06-05)

Teachers Helping Teachers Fight Aids

Over the past three years the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign has provided assistance and resources for HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling and care programs for African teacher unions to offer their members. Through $175,000 in funds raised with the sale of commemorative pins and wristbands, we have developed partnerships with unions in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa to create innovative and effective programs for the members. We have worked with those unions to create pilot projects that are now being expanded with grants of more than $4 million from the U.S. government, through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Below is a summary of recent funding sources for these programs and how the programs help save lives and care for those living on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign is a project of the AFT Educational Foundation, a 501(C) 3 organization. As of June 2005, AFT state federations, locals and members have raised $170,000 for the campaign through sales of commemorative pins and wristbands, along with other contributions. More than 12,000 African teachers participated in training programs funded in part by those contributions and received the information and materials they need to be effective AIDS educators and advocates. Additional funding was provided by the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center, Education International and other organizations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department.

Breaking the Silence--Zimbabwe

The AFT's efforts to assist African teacher unions cope with the challenges of the AIDS epidemic began in Zimbabwe in 2001. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs committed $135,000 for the joint pilot project of the AFT and the Zimbabwe teachers union, ZIMTA, to train teachers as HIV/AIDS trainers. This "train-the-trainers" program, developed with the participation of AFT staff, reached more than 5,000 teachers throughout the country.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign provided $48,659 for eight regional train-the-trainer workshops and to help pay for specialized HIV/AIDS teacher tool kits, which are used in school-based teacher study circles. These study circles are peer education programs where teachers speak frankly about HIV/AIDS to help "break the silence" surrounding HIV/AIDS. The AFT also facilitated a grant from the Centers for Disease Control to ZIMTA, allowing the union to publish a special HIV/AIDS edition of the union's quarterly publication.

Expanding into Kenya

Building on the success of the AFT-ZIMTA partnership, the State Department's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs in 2002 committed an additional $165,000 to launch a similar program between the AFT and the Kenya National Union of Teachers. Funds from the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign helped to pay the salaries of a union AIDS coordinator and an assistant coordinator, as well as for supplies for their office and for the printing of tool kits for AIDS workshops. All told, the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign contributed $43,365 to help the Kenyan effort get off the ground. Today, the AFT and KNUT are working collaboratively to expand peer education programs throughout 14 districts in Kenya. The programs are designed to teach counseling skills and strategies for reducing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. With a grant of $700,000 from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the project hopes to reach nearly 1 million Kenyan teachers and students with direct access to an AIDS counselor.

Creating a Comprehensive Program in South Africa

In South Africa, the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign provided the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) with a grant of $6,000 to produce an AIDS education video that was first shown at the SADTU national congress in 2003. The video was part of a successful effort on the part of SADTU to educate its members about the importance of tackling the AIDS crisis as a union issue. In addition, the AFT provided $36,752 to assist SADTU in hiring a regional HIV/AIDS coordinator. With that seed money, SADTU was able to expand the leadership role it has played in creating a responsible South African response to the AIDS crisis. SADTU is now working with several other South African teacher unions on a comprehensive project that combines HIV/AIDS education, counseling, testing and treatment. The project, funded through a two-year PEPFAR grant of $3.1 million, is being administered through the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center in South Africa.