Should Educators Be Concerned About HIV and AIDS?

Everyone needs to be concerned about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). You need to be concerned. We all should know how the virus is and is not spread. On a personal level, we all should learn what to do to avoid contracting HIV. As educators, we need to play a vital role in helping students learn about HIV and AIDS, and in encouraging the adoption of healthy behaviors. We should also recognize that there is no need to worry about contracting HIV in school. In addition, we must also foster compassion for those who are affected by HIV and AIDS.

The primary goal of this handbook is to provide basic information about HIV and AIDS. It incorporates information on different facets of the HIV pandemic drawn from various sources. Section One addresses facts about the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. You will read that HIV is spread in very limited ways which do not ordinarily occur in the school setting -- most often through unprotected sexual contact or by sharing intravenous (IV) drug needles with an infected person. Under daily classroom circumstances, neither teachers nor students can contract HIV from other persons who have HIV.

The second Section of this guide provides a description of the HIV antibody testing process. Section Three outlines proper methods for handling body fluids when someone becomes injured or ill during the school day.

It is the hope of the NEA Health Information Network that this handbook will provide readers with information to allay fears about -- and foster compassion for -- those persons who are living with HIV or AIDS, to provide an understanding of the dimensions of the HIV crisis, and to encourage readers to become leaders in developing effective, appropriate school-based responses to the pandemic.