Special needs of in-school HIV positive young people in Uganda

Abstract

Since 2006, Population Council, with funding from the Ford Foundation and USAID, has pioneered operations research in collaboration with local partners in Uganda to promote the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights of young people, aged 10- 19 years, infected with HIV. Key findings from this project show that many young people perinatally infected with HIV desire to be in school to avoid social isolation and indeed about 70 percent of them attend school. However, there has been limited understanding of how the education sector should support this vulnerable group of learners. The objective of this study was to explore the special needs HIV positive young people in primary and secondary schools in Uganda with a view to identifying possible responses by the education sector to these needs. It was implemented by the Population Council in collaboration with the Child Health and Development Centre- Makerere University, The AIDS Support Organization (TASO)- Uganda, and the Ministry of Education- Uganda, through funding from the Ford Foundation. It involved a survey of 718 young people aged 12-19 years perinatally infected with HIV, in-depth interviews with 52 school officials, and 938 student essays on identified HIV/AIDS themes.