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You, Me and HIV
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You, Me, & HIV is a book about HIV/AIDS for readers in the early teenage years. Developed for distribution in South Africa, the book is available free of charge in English, Afrikaans (Ek, Jy & MIV), and isiZulu (Wena, Nami & HIV).
About the Book:
Over five million people in South Africa are living with HIV, and the disease is spreading rapidly. The most common route of infection is sexual intercourse. Young people at the beginning of a sexually active life are particularly vulnerable, but this also presents an opportunity - the best hope of slowing the HIV epidemic lies in teaching this age group to understand the risk of infection, and how to behave in ways that avoid it. These are the goals of the book You, Me, and HIV, and its associated materials: an Educator?’s Guide and two posters.
You, Me, and HIV is written in an accessible but scientifically and medically accurate way by Professor Fran Balkwill of Barts and The London, Queen Mary?’s Medical School, and illustrated with lively, colorful drawings by graphic designer Mic Rolph. Fran and Mic are an award-winning creative team, responsible for many books for children on scientific subjects such as the immune system, cells, DNA, and genetics. The inspiration for a book on HIV/AIDS came from Professor Siamon Gordon of Oxford University, who is committed to engaging with health-related issues in his native South Africa. The book is published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York.
You, Me, and HIV covers these topics:
- How the body protects itself against viruses and other germs
- The origins of HIV
- How HIV makes people ill
- How HIV spreads, and doesn?’t spread
- The reasons why HIV is so dangerous
- How people can protect themselves from HIV
- Ways of keeping healthy and well if you are living with HIV
- How anti-retroviral medications work
- Sources of information, support, and help within South Africa
About the Educator?’s Guide and Posters:
The Educator?’s Guide, written in collaboration with educators, provides a systematic approach to the use of You, Me, and HIV in the grade 7-9 classroom. It is available in English. The guide has five units that follow the content of You, Me, and HIV, and it describes 24 classroom-based activities that can be conducted with limited resources among groups of students. The activities conform to Outcomes-Based Educational principles and include assessment exercises. Although the Guide is intended for use by natural science educators, its content is also suitable for cross-curriculum teaching by educators in life orientation and arts and culture. It promotes participation, discussion, and interaction. Art and drama are used to encourage self- reflection, discussion and problem-solving. The activities take gender dynamics into account and encourage students, particularly girls, to make confident life-style choices. Equal attention is given to HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care. Activities range from understanding HIV as a micro-organism, to nutritional advice and practical support for students who have lost parents or are living with people who are sick.
Also available are two colourful, illustrated 12 x 20 inch posters, showing collections of drawings from the book on two themes: How to Protect Yourself Against HIV and How HIV Makes People Sick.
HIV/AIDS intervention in Schools:
You, Me, and HIV, the Educator?’s Guide and posters are being distributed free of charge as part of a broadly based educational initiative in nearly a hundred schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Western Cape, Free State and the Eastern Cape that is being managed by Linzi Rabinowitz, a social scientist who is also responsible for the distribution, evaluation and preparation of the Educators?’ Guide. Partners in the distribution include provincial departments of education, NGOs, and the private sector. Groups of teachers and ?“master educators?” in each province are being trained to use the materials so that they can pass on their knowledge of the content and methodology to students and other teachers. The effectiveness of this process is being evaluated. The materials are also being used by several NGOs involved in treatment literacy education and the roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs.
Background and Funding:
The first publication of this project was the book Staying Alive: Fighting HIV/AIDS, published in 2002. It was developed, produced, and 19 000 copies distributed free of charge in South Africa, with funds from NIH, Oxford University, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 2003, the project received major grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has enabled the evaluation and revision of the first publication, the printing and distribution of You, Me, and HIV and its associated materials in large numbers, and the launch of the educational intervention in schools. UNICEF SOUTH AFRICA is funding the training and distribution costs in three of the four provinces. The project hopes to raise sufficient funds to undertake a national roll-out in 2006.
Contact details for more information:
Copies of You, Me, and HIV are currently available for bulk distribution only in South Africa. We welcome contact with individuals and organisations interested in learning more about our current activities, the possibility of partnering with us in the printing and distribution of the materials in South Africa, or the possibility of adapting the book appropriately and distributing it in other parts of the world.
To order, contact the publishers at [email protected]. For further information, please contact Linzi Rabinowitz on [email protected] or Carole Roberts on [email protected]. Workshops on activities and methodology, training materials and training in the use of these materials and methodology is available for organisations working in schools, with educators, learners, peer educators and facilitators, or with youth groups, church groups and other groups working with young people.
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