As the UN specialised agency for education, UNESCO supports lifelong learning that builds and maintains essential skills, competencies, knowledge, behaviours and attitudes. This includes learning in formal educational settings; through non-formal educational activities; and through informal education. The priority that UNESCO has given to education is based on the evidence that education - especially education on prevention - contributes toward the knowledge and skills essential for the prevention of HIV and protects individuals, families, communities, institutions and nations from the impact of AIDS. Education also helps to overcome the conditions that facilitate the spread of HIV, including poverty, ill-health, gender inequality, violence and abuse, particularly against girls and women. Beyond this, education can create the conditions of understanding, respect and tolerance - all of which contribute to reduced stigma and discrimination against vulnerable and marginalised communities and people living with HIV. The strategy described here outlines how UNESCO intends to continue its contribution to the global response to HIV and AIDS. It is an operational tool for the Organization designed to provide direction, set priorities, and encourage appropriate resource allocation in light of the evolving epidemic and recent international developments. This strategy is not intended to exhaustively examine UNESCO's past work in this area as other recent resources are available documenting the diverse activities undertaken by UNESCO to reduce risk and vulnerability, improve care for the infected and affected, and build individual and institutional capacity for more effective responses to HIV and AIDS.