Statement of Edward J. McElroy,
President of the American Federation of Teachers
on the Expansion of AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign Programs
in South Africa and Kenya

Washington, D.C. — As World AIDS Day is observed around the globe on Dec. 1, the AFT is pleased to announce that our groundbreaking efforts to combat this terrible disease will be expanded by $3.8 million in federal grants.  The grant money will be used to build on programs to combat AIDS in South Africa and Kenya.

For the past three years, the AFT and our members have been making a major contribution to the fight against AIDS in Africa, where more than 28 million people are infected with HIV.  We’ve raised more than $170,000 from our members for the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign, and we have built dynamic partnerships with teacher unions in nations like Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe to provide their members with the education, counseling and care they need to combat the spread of AIDS among their members and the communities they serve. 

With the support from the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign, more than 12,000 African teachers have participated in training programs and are receiving the information and resources they need to help combat the spread of AIDS in some of the world’s most impoverished areas.  Despite this critically important work, however, AIDS continues to ravage sub-Saharan Africa.  Compounding the social impact of the epidemic, the ranks of teachers in this region of the world are being decimated by AIDS.  In Kenya, on average 10 teachers die from the disease each week.  And in South Africa, as many as 60,000 teachers are expected to die before the decade is out. Clearly, there is a great deal more work to be done.  We at the AFT will continue to do our part.

Today, the AFT is pleased to announce the expansion of our partnership efforts to combat the spread of AIDS in South Africa and Kenya. We are proud of our accomplishments thus far and we look forward to the fruits of this new and even more intensive phase of work with our South African and Kenyan counterparts.

In South Africa: 

A two-year, $3.1 million grant will help the AFT, the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center, the South African Democratic Teachers Union, the National Association of Professional Teachers of South Africa, the National Association of Teachers Unions, the National African Teachers Union, the Tshepang Trust and the Academy for Educational Development provide expanded educational and treatment services to help educators affected by AIDS.  This will improve the quality of life for thousands of South African families and will help prevent the further spread of the disease.  The grant is funded by the President’s Emergency Program For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The project in South Africa will target the prevention of HIV infection among teachers through continued education, allow access to care for all public educators who are either infected or affected by AIDS, and admit 150,000 teachers and students to voluntary counseling and testing.  Besides providing direct services, the project also aims to spread general awareness of the plight of those affected by the AIDS epidemic. And, there will be a pilot program in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, where 1,000 teachers and their family members will receive anti-retroviral therapy drugs. 

The need for, and projected impact of, this collaboration is underscored in a letter to the AFT from the former United States ambassador to South Africa, the Honorable Cameron R. Hume.  Hume wrote, “South Africa has the largest number of HIV-infected people in the world.  It will require an enormous and sustained effort by all the partners in this area to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS here.  The contribution by organizations such as AFT is vital.”

In Kenya: 

A two-year, $700,000 PEPFAR grant will help support a collaborative project between the AFT and the Kenyan National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to foster HIV/AIDS prevention.  The project will use group and peer learning and will offer direct services to union members and students alike.

Each school in the 14 target districts that participates in the program will convene a study circle to provide peer education to teachers.  Within these study circles, teachers will learn valuable counseling skills, and will work cooperatively to develop individualized strategies and programs designed to reduce the stigma of the disease within their school communities. This work will be coupled with an effort to create more positive and productive school learning environments for teachers and students infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

On a national level, a newly formed inter-organizational committee will protect and improve healthcare services for teachers living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the AFT-KNUT partnership will provide 988,000 teachers and students with direct access to an on-site counselor.

Another arm of the initiative will reach out to the public through the launch of a national advocacy campaign to increase awareness of the impact that this pandemic has on educators and students. 

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