Up to 40 African Countries Will Not Reach Universal Education Goals in Part Because of HIV/AIDS, Official Says

The Africa coordinator for the global teachers union Education International Emmanuel Fatoma on Monday at a meeting of East and Central Africa trade unions in Nairobi, Kenya, said that up to 40 African countries will not achieve the Education for All initiative's 2015 enrollment goals in part because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Kenya's Standard reports (Oreyo, Standard, 5/8). The EFA initiative is an international effort that aims to enroll all of the children in the world in school by 2015 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/8/02). According to UNESCO's Web site, representatives from 164 countries meeting at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000 signed a plan to achieve the initiative's goals (UNESCO Web site, 5/9). EI, which comprises 280 teachers unions in 18 African countries and nine Asian countries, has said that HIV/AIDS is "one of the biggest" challenges to reaching the EFA goals in Africa. He said that EI's programs -- which aim to train teachers on HIV/AIDS research, prevention, advocacy, policy and information sharing -- will emphasize access to antiretroviral drugs and condom use, adding that the unions should be educated to critique government policies on the issue (Standard, 8/5).