The Naked Truth About Hiv And Aids

With escalating HIV infections among young people in Lesotho, I examined the meanings young people attach to HIV and AIDS education in schools. The findings suggests that with poor training in content and pedagogy among teachers, young people find the curriculum irrelevant, unrealistic and ineffective. Together with unequal gender norms and stigma, this negatively influences the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs targeting young people in schools. The recommendation is that young people should be exposed to the naked truth of HIV and AIDS content. Thus, the need to: i) changing the institutions (the family and the school), ii) changing gender norms in and around the school and iii) improving resources and infrastructure. The change is intended to create a bridge between young people's home lives and the school live. This provides the smooth way challenging and reversing the silencing of certain topics and issues regarded as taboo.