Dismissed for HIV?

This should never happen. No

teacher should ever be
dismissed for having HIV.
Report to your DEO if this
happens to you.

For your part, if you are a

teacher with HIV/AIDS, live
positively. Seek medical
advice from a doctor, so that
you stay healthy and fulfil
your teaching role. Daily
Septrin is a must.
Vol. 7 No. 1 February 2008

Is your school HIV/AIDS friendly ?

Some schools do not treat teachers
with HIV/AIDS with dignity. Yet
about 9000 primary teachers are
living with HIV. Their service is
needed. Also, they can become leaders
against HIV/AIDS in their schools.
Here is the story of Proscovia Ayo, 43,
currently a TASO volunteer.

"I am a mother of four. I was head

teacher in a Tororo primary school.
Years back, I lost my husband.
Eventually I started falling sick. I
tested in 1997 and turned out to have
HIV.

The community suspected.

When I opened up, they
became hostile. I was locked
out of my office and denied my
job. I have been on ARVs since
2003. When I took my case to
the district authorities nothing
was done, so I went to the
Ministry. I am still waiting to
be deployed."

Communities react against

teachers with HIV because they
fear and do not understand it.
Read about the harmful impact of
stigma on P2.
Are you a teacher in a situation like Proscovia's?
Do you have teachers in your school who are
HIV positive? Do you talk about them behind The MoES and NGOs offer training in HIV, life skills, gender and sexuality under
their backs or do you take on their lessons when programmes like PIASCY. If you receive such a training, take part enthusiastically
they are ill? Read this Teacher Talk and
discuss it in a staff meeting. Are you
and implement what you learn at your school. Here Mayuge teachers do group
managing HIV well in your school? work at a Straight Talk sensitisation in Lugolole PS.

Respect teachers with HIV, says MoES
Aggrey David Kibenge,
Principal Assistant
Secretary and Public
Relations Officer,
Ministry of Education
and Sports says:
"The Ministry of
Education and Sports
(MoES) condemns
stigmatizing teachers,
support staff or pupils
with HIV. It is
striving to make
schools HIV/AIDS-friendly.
An HIV/AIDS-friendly school is one where the
environment enables information on HIV/AIDS to
be passed on to the pupils and community around.
It is a school where teachers and pupils with HIV
are not discriminated against but enjoy the same
Teachers are many and powerful: by January 2008
opportunities as the rest. It has determined we had 146,964 teachers on the government pay
leadership. roll of whom 127,121 teach at primary school
level. This is 50% of the entire public service of
The MoES encourages a Whole School Approach about 250,000. Through education we reach about
to deal with HIV/AIDS. This means that everyone ten million people, including seven million pupils.
-- administrators, parents, headteachers, teachers, This is a third of Uganda's population. There is a
the School Management Committee, community lot we can do."
and partners like NGOs -- are united in managing
the complex issues that this epidemic raises for
us.
Concerned
The single most important resource in this is you, headteacher:
the teacher. You and your conviction -- and not set an example
the sacks of money people want to work on HIV -- and reduce
are what matters. We ask you to become an HIV- stigma by
competent teacher who is able to help pupils
taking time to
understand HIV/AIDS. You cannot have quality
talk to teachers
learning when the teacher knows little and is not
confident. with HIV/AIDS.
2 Teacher Talk, February 2008
Stigma: the biggest challenge in HIV
What is Stigma?
Stigma is the greatest
challenge to slowing the
spread of HIV/AIDS.
Stigma has many
definitions. To stigmatise is
to label a person as inferior
because of an attribute that
they have, such as being
infected with HIV. A person
who is stigmatised is
reduced from being a whole
and normal person to a
person who is marked with a
"spoilt identity".
HIV has stigma because we
fear infection and death. We
may also be ignorant about
how HIV is transmitted.
Sometimes we wrongly judge
those with HIV as sinners,
womanisers or prostitutes.
Stigma creates conditions
that fuel the spread of HIV.
It prevents people from
testing, going for PMTCT
(prevention of mother to
Stigma can stop you from testing.
You imagine consequences, such as
people pointing at you if you are
positive. So you do not know your
HIV status, and your health worsens.
Budo Junior not afraid of HIV
Budo Junior School
has inspirational,
practices to manage
stigma.
Teacher Talk talked
to headteacher,
Kayongo William
Sebuliba.
child transmission) or
getting HIV care like TB
treatment or ARVs. Stigma
intensifies the suffering of
Stigma can make you hesitate to
tell your spouse that you have
HIV. So you have unprotected sex
and HIV spreads to your partner
and unborn children. Also, you
have to hide your medicine and
cannot live positively.
"Before each lesson
we have a PIASCY
minute. We ask
pupils to reflect. We
say: 'Close your eyes
and look at yourself
as an orphan. What
do you see?' Or we
say: 'We are all street
children. How do
you feel?'
This develops empathy
(putting yourself in the
shoes of someone else.
The whole school is now a
talking place with a talking
office, talking staff room,
talking compound. We
regularly change the
PIASCY messages in the
classroom.
We have a friendly way with
people with HIV/AIDS which
people living with HIV and
their families.
Stigma is shown in the way
we talk and treat people,
has made acceptance easy. We
have had almost 30 known
pupils with HIV. We have
about 150 children who have
lost either one or both
parents.
There is not only stigma with
HIV but also, for example,
tribe. We have a child who is
an albino. We helped pupils to
accept him. It helped to
illustrate discrimination.
We encourage teachers to test
for HIV. Those who are
negative are encouraged to
share the load with those who
are sick or going for ARVs.
During evening prayers in
dormitories, children pray for
the sick and those who lost
parents to HIV. Sometimes we
call experts from TASO and
Christ the King."
are usually more stigmatized
than men. Stigma creates a
situation of "us and them".
Fear of being identified with
HIV creates a society where
people are unwilling to learn
or disclose their HIV status,
reluctant to change their
unsafe behavior, unwilling
to take care of their sick
relatives and unable to
get treatment and live
positively.
Stigma has terrible results:
denial, shame, loneliness,
depression, anger, self-pity,
alcoholism, family
quarrels... People actually
die because of stigma.
A preventable death is not
prevented because of stigma.
At the bottom of the page
read the beautiful story of
such as name calling, how Budo Junior is working
teasing, making them look to defeat stigma.
foolish, isolating, blaming or Your school can defeat it
neglecting. Women with HIV too.
The main way we stigmatise is with words
and body language. Often we do not
realise that we sigmatise others. Stigma
creates a pool of people with HIV who feel
they must hide their status. One of those
people could be your next sexual partner.
Challenges of stigma
“There is a lot of stigma
here. If the community
learns that a teacher has
HIV, they will work hard to
cause that teacher to be
transferred. Some parents
will take their children to
other schools to avoid
infected teachers ,”
David Aluma, Lomuga
PS, Yumbe
“Some children in our
school were born with HIV.
Their guardians are not
open about it.
A teacher goes to their
home to talk to their
guardians so that they can
access services but the
guardians will just abuse
the teacher,” Beatrice
Tabu, East Alip PS

Make your school competent in HIV/AIDS
HIV-focused
school events
“We use our musical shows,
drama and sports events to
pass HIV/AIDS messages to
the public. We call the
community around to
attend. It is a very powerful
way of passing a message
yet very entertaining,”
Bako Josephine, Lomuga
PS
Integrating HIV/
AIDS in lessons
Do you teach English? How
about asking your pupils to
write stories about HIV. Are
you an art teacher. How
about asking your pupils to
draw pictures of how HIV/
AIDS affects them? Science
teachers could talk about
transmission while the
maths teachers can give the
figures of people infected and
affected by HIV/AIDS.
Every teacher is
a counselor
“I counsel pupils when they
have problems including
those affected or infected with
HIV. Sometimes we organize
for Voluntary Counselling
and Testing (VCT) but
teachers and pupils avoid it
because they fear to find out
the truth and to be
stigmatized,” Ajidiru
Florence, Barakala PS.
Is your school HIV literate? Here are more ideas
• Encourage every
teacher to test for HIV.
• Change your attitude:
avoid stigma against
teachers/pupils with
HIV.
• Have a trained
counselor in HIV not
Teacher Talk, February 2008 3
HIV positive
Teacher Talk visited Yumbe to discover how teachers teachers as role
were managing HIV/AIDS. We found good practices. models
“We have a teacher with
HIV. It was difficult for him
to accept his status but we
encouraged him to be open
and to take his ARVs. Today
he is very happy and lives
positively. He is an
encouragement to us all.”
Abuko Jacqueline, Acholi
PS
Talking compounds
“Messages about prevention
Teachers gather in support of HIV-positive colleague of HIV/AIDS are put in our
“We had a teacher who had HIV and was facing stigma from other teachers. I called a compound, classrooms and in
meeting and advised the staff to support and show him love, Sunlight Safi, Acholi PS the office to remind the
pupils and the teachers that
AIDS is still with us and we
need to stay safe,” Elly
Vincent Acidri, Geya PS
Get a teacher in
charge of PIASCY
Protecting pupils against sexual assault Dawa “We have a teacher who is
“Encouraging pupils to walk in groups helps them stay safe. Zainab in charge of issues that are
We tell them there is safety in walking in a group. These related to HIV/AIDS and
groups are also called safety friends. A person who wants to PIASCY. She also does First
attack a child who is in a group will fear that the others Aid,” Rev Stephen Agaale,
would recognize and report him.” Dawa Zainab, Geya PS Iyolo PS
just the general • Have fully functional living positively, drinking water and
guidance and AIDS clubs in schools. adhering to ARVS and regular medical check
counseling taught at • Have a Teachers Anti- helping others protect ups. By Proscovia
teachers’ colleges. AIDS Action Group themselves.
•Have First Aid boxes Ayo, Teacher living
(TAAG). • Have a school wellness
with Septrin for those • Teachers who have programme which with HIV, currently
who forget to take already tested HIV includes positive life a volunteer with
theirs at home. positive be exemplary by skills, meals and safe TASO, Soroti

Testing for HIV: advisable for every teacher
Four-fifths of Ugandans living
with HIV do not know that they
have the virus.
Unknown to themselves, they are in
the process of infecting their sexual
partner and their unborn children.
Teachers, if you do not know your
HIV status, it is Ministry of
Education policy to encourage you
to test. Under its Education Sector
Workplace Policy Implementation
(ESWAPI) project, over 4000
teachers have tested for HIV. This is
a good start.
Discordance
As a teacher, you can be living in
ways that you think are safe. For
example, you might be faithful to
your partner who is also faithful to
you. The problem is that many
people have HIV from previous
relationships when they marry.
You can live as a couple with one of
you being positive and one of you
being negative for many years.
Such a situation is very common.
It is called: discordance.
Almost 60% of people with HIV who
are in partnerships have partners
that are HIV negative.
These negative partners urgently
need to be protected.
Testing alone
Testing is better than no testing.
But it can lead you to make
assumptions about your partner.
For example, a man may assume
that he is negative because his wife
tests negative in the antenatal
clinic. But in fact that man could
easily be positive and has simply
not yet infected his wife. How long
an HIV positive person takes to
infect his or her partner depends
mostly on: how much virus is in the
Sexuality is beautiful
so condoms are too
Sexuality is a central part of being
human. It is how we feel and who
we are.
If we want to deal with HIV, we need
to take sexuality seriously. This
includes love, reproduction, pleasure
and closeness.
Sexuality does not always mean
intercourse. But if you do have
penetrative sex, you need to make it
safe and enjoyable. Almost all HIV
infections are connected to sex.
Examine your life. Is the risk of HIV
inside or
outside
your
bedroom?
If you are
in any
doubt,
make
Proscovia Ayo:
at ease with
condom
use your
condoms
priority.
Teacher Talk promotes the
Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy
for Communication to Youth (PIASCY)
4 Teacher Talk, febraury 2008
• As an individual, you are not
In Uganda 79% of people with HIV do not know that they are
overloaded with the need to tell
infected. Almost all of these infected people are sexually your results to your partner and
active, most of them with their spouse.
convince your partner to be
tested.
•If you are both negative, you can
re- commit to being faithful.
•Couple counseling helps you to
cooperate with each other, for
example, on using condoms if one
of you is positive.
•When you get your results
together, the negative person can
more easily support the positive
person to take daily medications
like Septrin or ARVs.
•If you are both positive, you can
plan together to stay strong.
Most steady couples who have
different test results stay together.
Couple testing needs to be at the heart of your relationships. A posi- Less than 5% separate or have
tive partner may have become infected over ten years ago, long before serious stress. The counselor can
marriage to their current partner. help you cope.
Unmarried teachers
body; the presence of other STDs; that of your partner.
It is best because: If you are not yet married, couple
how often they have sex; and counseling with your future partner
chance or luck. •Partners hear the same is also needed, even if you have
Testing as a couple information together. already been sleeping together.
Couple testing is the best way to •This increases the chance of Until you test together, always use
know your own HIV status and shared understanding. a condom when you have sex.
HIV transmission
in one family
This couple married when the man was positive. The wife
stayed negative for many years and had her first born
when she was negative. By the time she had her second
born, she was positive but the baby was negative. Her third
child was born HIV positive.
In this family of five people, three are now positive. (The
darkness shows the viral load BUT it does not start from
the legs. HIV is in all body fluids.)
Teachers of Bugwagi PS Sironko enjoy Teacher Talk.
Your letters
your attitude. Temba D, Kashekye
Use condoms if: PS, Kabale
• you and your partner have not
tested together. I teach in a school Teachers, implement PIASCY. It
• you are married to one with former street gives hope to tomorrow's
person but your partner may children who are old generation. Send me Teacher Talk!
have other sexual partners. for their classes. Mawanda R, Teacher, Rakai
• you are in a polygamous They were planning Aids Orphans Project
marriage and do not trust one to give up studies
Teachers! Write in to
but with guidance
of the partners.
• you and your partner are they are still with
discordant (one positive, one us. Teachers, let's PO Box 22366
negative). give light to the young and encourage
parents and guardians to talk to
us:
Kampala and tenllabs
• you do not want to get ent
pregnant. them. C Okumu, Revival PS, • Why are teachers ofte
Matugga from work?
• you have more than one sexual y are
partner. • What happens when the
I advise headteachers to cooperate absent?
with teachers. Many exclude teachers reduce
Condoms are not immoral. • What can be done to
With thanks to Dr Nafuna Wamai, from decisions, are harsh and take absenteeism?
Win a T-shirt.
them as inferior people. Please,
CDC/UVRI
headteachers, if you do this, change
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