Update on MOEYC HIV/AIDS activities

Senior management forum

The HIV/AIDS project, funded jointly by UNICEF and UNESCO, and being managed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture (MOEYC), includes an activity for a retreat for the Ministry’s senior management team. The retreat would, among other things, assess our response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a sector. The minister, ministers of state, permanent secretary, heads of divisions, unit heads, regional directors and other senior officers have been invited to this retreat, which is scheduled for January 28, 2004 at the Knutsford Court Hotel. It will commence with lunch at 12:30 pm and then progress into a formal meeting, which will end at 4:00 p.m. Presentations will be made by a number of divisions of the Ministry on the implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for their division.

HIV/AIDS response team

In order to assist in the execution of a structured HIV/AIDS response, a HIV/AIDS Response Team is being established. This team, which is receiving financial support from UNESCO, will comprise of a public relations specialist and an administrative assistant, along with six health promotions specialists placed in the six regions of the Ministry, guided by the HIV/AIDS co-ordinator.

This team will have the responsibility for co-ordinating and executing this sector’s response to the HIV pandemic as outlined in the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan. Members of this team will begin their 12-month contract on February 2, 2004. The policy dissemination process will be implemented after a month of training and strategising. The materials comprising the formal policy document, a booklet explaining the policy and graphic representations in the form of posters, will be used in the dissemination process to board chairpersons, PTA presidents, directors, education officers, principals and counsellors in this first phase. The material development component is being funded by UNICEF. This process embraces the secondary, all-age and tertiary levels initially.

HIV/AIDS committee

Our workplace committee, comprising, the 15 agencies of this Ministry, continues to meet monthly to process each agency’s strategy for sensitisation, education and care. A successful mounted display and a concert were held in commemoration of World AIDS Day on November 28, 2003 at the Sovereign Centre. The school’s policy will continue to be evaluated for possible adaptation for use in the workplace.

Health and family life education

Health and family life education (HFLE) is the vehicle through which HIV/AIDS education is being channelled. For the period January to March 2004, revision of the project and implementation of the policy is being funded by the World Bank. In December 2003, the Caricom Curriculum Advisory Committee, which met in Barbados, was attended by Dr. Deloris Brissett, assistant chief education officer (ACEO) of the Guidance and Counselling Unit, and Mrs. Phyllis Reynolds, assistant chief education officer (ACEO) of Core Curriculum Unit. They were engaged in the process of developing the framework for a HFLE curriculum to be piloted in three countries and Jamaica, projected for September 2004. This meeting also served to confirm HFLE as the vehicle for HIV/AIDS education in the Caribbean.