HIV and AIDS Education
	Today, nearly forty million people are living with HIV. Experts agree that education could help limit the further spread of the pandemic.Yet many countries are slow to put in place a coherent HIV and AIDS prevention education plan. FOCUS, a four-page dossier, reports.

Edito - In the past five years there has been a sea of change in the global response to HIV and AIDS. Today there is more funding available and more stakeholders involved than ever before to fight the pandemic. According to UNAIDS, global funding has increased from roughly $2.1 billion in 2001 to $6.1 billion in 2004. As a former university president and US Congressman, I have seen first-hand how devastating HIV and AIDS can be. But I have also seen what education can do to reduce the impact of the disease. We need to teach children and young adults about how HIV is transmitted and prevented, and how to care for and support those infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Yet messages about changing behaviour to reduce the risk of getting HIV and about accepting those living with the virus are not reaching everyone, as described in the dossier of this issue. Indeed, coverage of HIV and AIDS prevention education is extremely uneven. Despite progress, 3.1 million people worldwide died from AIDS-related disease last year. We know that the success or failure of a global response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic rests on the ability of national governments to develop a comprehensive, effective response in the area of HIV and AIDS prevention education and on the capacity of local stakeholders to convey inclusive and sensitive messages to everyone. I’m proud of UNESCO’s leading role in EDUCAIDS, the Global Initiative on HIV and AIDS. We assist countries in finding the best ways to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS through education and to protect the core functions of education systems that are constantly being threatened by the epidemic’s advance. EDUCAIDS is one of UNESCO’s three new initiatives (which also tackle the issues of teacher training and literacy). We believe that by intensifying efforts in these areas we will considerably accelerate progress towards Education for All by 2015. Peter Smith Assistant Director-General for Education