17 May 2006

Campaigners warn today that many of the world's poorest children face double the average risk of contracting the HIV infection unless developing countries and donor nations fund education for every child.

This message comes today as international experts meet in London to discuss how governments can reverse a tide which threatens huge numbers of more deaths in poor countries.

If all children went to school, at least 700,000 new HIV infections could be prevented each year, according to the charity ActionAid and Imperial College London’s Partnership for Child Development.

They cite school pupils as the "window of hope" for the future because they learn skills to protect their health and have the lowest HIV infection rate of any age group.

But, as countries struggle to achieve the UN millennium development goal of education for all by 2015, at present just one in two African children finishes primary schooling.
 
And evidence shows that young people with little or no education may be more than twice as likely to contract HIV as those who have finished primary schooling.

ActionAid and the PCD urge developing countries and donor nations to provide free education so that children are not excluded by school fees their families cannot afford.

The experts will gather at a conference, organised by ActionAid and the PCD, to agree proposals for a two-day London meeting of UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Teams on Education which starts tomorrow (Thursday 18 May).

The teams aim to devise unified plans to help poor countries develop effective education policies in the battle against the Aids pandemic.

Tania Boler, senior policy adviser to ActionAid, said: "Both the developing world and donor nations are guilty of deadly inertia over the HIV schools issue. The danger that millions of children may die from the disease will mount unless poor and rich countries prioritise their educational needs."

Lesley Drake, coordinator of the PCD, said: "School children can provide the window of hope for a future generation free of HIV infection. All education barriers should be removed to allow every child access to this social vaccine. And all governments, donors and development partners must fully back efforts to achieve education for all."