TVET and HIV/AIDS
Overview
© ILO/ M. Crozet |
Education plays a crucial role in the responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. At the current time, prevention is the most important way to combat the disease, and UNESCO, as the convening UN agency for HIV/AIDS and education, places special emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention education at all levels of education and training, including TVET. In addition to being an important vehicle for prevention education, TVET is affected by HIV/AIDS in many ways. The high rate of disease and death due to HIV/AIDS among trained professionals makes replacements increasingly hard to find. This results in an increased need for TVET. But at the same time, HIV/AIDS reduces both the demand and the supply of TVET as students and education personnel become affected and absenteeism increases. HIV/AIDS also is a major threat to the world of work as it affects the most productive segment of the labour force. It leads to reduced earnings; increase of labour costs; decline of productivity; loss of skills and experience; and erosion of rights at work(discrimination and stigmatization of infected co-workers etc.)