Children's Right to HIV Information in Zambia

The book grapples with the topical theme of HIV & AIDS in sub- Saharan Africa, in a case study of two Catholic schools in Zambia. It explores factors which conditioned children's rights to access school-based HIV education. The book specifically explores what the Catholic schools were doing vis-a-vis HIV education. The author argues that the Catholic schools in Zambia have been casual vis-a-vis implementing the Ministry's HIV education programme in their curricular largely due to the Ministry's circular focus on condom use as a preventive measure. The Catholic schools have been reluctant to depart from the Catholic Church's moral insistence on abstinence and fidelity. It has refused to yield on this moral aspect which it sees as its cardinal duty to humanity. Overall, the author argues that the Ministry of Education (Zambia), schools, Catholic Church and parents have failed the pupils with regard to HIV education due to their respective lukewarm approach to HIV education. More needs to be done if the fight against the pandemic is to succeed.

Autorentext

Joseph C. Chita, MIED, MEdRS: Studied International Education and Development at Oslo University College and Religious Studies at the University of Zambia. A Staff Development fellow in the Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Education at the University of Zambia.