At its Strategy Session in February 2002 in Dakar, the Education Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) defined its priority research agenda for 2002-05. The impact of HIV/AIDS on education and the response of educational systems is second of eight priority research areas. While AIDS has been advancing faster in Southern and Eastern Africa, West and Central Africa are certainly not immune, as high HIV/AIDS infection rates in Cameroon and high AIDS-related teacher loss in Cote d’Ivoire demonstrate. At the same time there is growing consciousness of the need for a multi-sectoral approach, including the education sector, which has a role to play in awareness building and prevention.

  ERNWACA and the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP/UNESCO, Paris) hosted a workshop in Accra, Ghana from January 27-29 to launch a partnership to establish an ongoing exchange of information between five ERNWACA member countries and the "HIV/AIDS Impact on Education Clearinghouse."  The Clearinghouse, in close collaboration with the International Bureau of Education and UNESCO, collects and disseminates HIV/AIDS studies and reports, with special focus on the impact the epidemic is having on education.  More than a database, it is also an interactive website where members can download documents, access related Web resources and participate in discussions. ERNWACA researchers from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal participated in the workshop.  The Deputy General Director of Ghana Education Service, Mr. Awuah, opened the workshop.
Information and education is key to fighting HIV/AIDS in ERNWACA countries where the average national infection rate is 5% and can reach more than 10% in heavily hit countries and high-risk areas. The Clearinghouse seeks to support the implementation of effective strategies against HIV/AIDS in the education sector through the information provided to ministries, research institutes, NGOs and development agencies.  Over the next several months, national ERNWACA teams will begin collecting national strategies, policy statements, research and case studies, evaluations of effective response programs, and certain conference reports and forwarding them to a hub at ERNWACA's regional coordination office in Bamako, Mali. This documentation and information will then be uploaded into the Clearinghouse database for dissemination.

The Clearinghouse is part of a larger initiative, begun in 2000 by UNESCO and UNAIDS, to promote the education sector as an essential element of the global strategy against HIV/AIDS. In March 2001, the need for developing a clearinghouse hub in West Africa was discussed at the "Senior Experts' Conference on HIV/AIDS and Education in West Africa: Towards Regional Mobilization" in Elmina, Ghana. Visit the website and register to use the Clearinghouse at http://www.unesco.org/iiep.

Click for HIV/AIDS statistics in ERNWACA member countries. Table prepared by ERNWACA with 2001 year-end statistics, based on the "Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic" released by UNAIDS in July 2002.

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