HIV & AIDS Education

If protecting yourself is your first priority, then protecting your family and friends is also very important. Share the facts about HIV and AIDS with the people you love. Doing so may help save their lives.

Many people turn to religious communities for support, comfort, and guidance. Religious communities can be excellent sources of HIV and AIDS education. Your congregation may want to support a local AIDS service organization by providing volunteers and other contributions.

• Work with your religious leaders to promote compassion and support for people living with HIV and AIDS.
  Support those religious leaders who are working to help educate their communities about HIV.
• Encourage education efforts.
  Activities may include distributing brochures and pamphlets on HIV infection and AIDS, writing an article for the congregation's publications, or organizing an education program.
• Start a service program.
  Members of your congregation can work with a local AIDS group to provide meals, transportation, housing, errands, etc., to people with HIV infection or AIDS.

Many people with AIDS today were infected with HIV when they were teenagers. Sexually active teens put themselves at risk for HIV infection as well as STDs. Schools can play an important role in educating young people about HIV and AIDS. As a parent, grandparent, or concerned citizen, you can work with administrators, school boards, and parent-teacher associations to support or start educational efforts.

• Find out whether local schools have comprehensive health education programs.
  Make sure education programs are well-rounded and contain information about HIV, STDs, teenage pregnancy, alcohol/drug abuse, and abstinence. If no program exists, help start one.
• Urge educators to involve parents and grandparents when developing an education program that covers children and HIV.
  Parents should have input into what topics are taught, which issues are suitable for which grade, and what materials are developed.
• Encourage programs that feature teens teaching other teens about STDs, including HIV infection.
  This approach is called peer-based education and has been shown to be an effective way for teens to learn.
• Ensure that the program also addresses drug and alcohol use.
  Students need to know how these substances impair judgment. Under the influence of these substances, teens may put themselves at risk for HIV infection as well as other STDs.
• Urge your school board to adopt an HIV and AIDS policy for students and staff and to implement LRTA's five-component workplace program.
  The policy should include guidelines for developing prevention programs, as well as guidelines that protect the rights and dignity of students and teachers who are infected with HIV. For more information on education policies concerning HIV infection, read Someone at School Has AIDS, published by the National Association of State Boards of Education. For ordering information, call (800)-220-5183 or (703) 684-4000.
• Organize educational events throughout the year focusing on HIV prevention.
  Invite guest speakers, including persons living with HIV and their families, to discuss various aspects of the disease. Help sponsor an AIDS prevention con-test or event aimed specifically at teens.

Union members can have tremendous impact on the job and in their communities — in schools, religious communities, and the organizations that serve people living with HIV and AIDS. While on the job, encourage the union and management to:

• Develop an AIDS-in-the-workplace program.
  Labor, along with management, has developed effective AIDS-in-the-workplace programs.
• Support the development of an AIDS-in-the-workplace policy.
• Develop workplace training and education.
  This includes educating union leaders, workers, managers, and families. For more information on developing training and education programs, call the George Meany Center for Labor Studies at 301-431-6400.
• Participate in World AIDS Day (December 1) or AIDS Awareness Month in October.
  For more information, call the Business and Labor Resource Service at 1-877-242-9760.

Union Members Can Also:

• Write articles about why HIV is a union issue.
  They can submit their articles to union newsletters and union papers, as well as their local newspapers.
• Make a quilt panel for union members who have died from AIDS or display part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at their next union function.
  For more information on developing a quilt panel or displaying the AIDS Memorial Quilt, call the Names Project Foundation at 404-688-5500.
• Investigate ways in which they can formulate a resolution addressing the development of an HIV/AIDS program at the next union convention.

The local union can support HIV and AIDS prevention efforts in the community. Two of the most important things that unions have done and can continue to do are to:

• Raise funds.
  Local unions have a long and proud track record of raising money for worthy community causes. Unions historically have also raised funds for families on strike or for members who have lost their homes in a flood or a fire. Raising funds for community-based organizations that serve people with HIV and AIDS is no different. And local organizations serving people with HIV and AIDS always need funds.
• Volunteer.
  Community organizations always need volunteers. Organizations need drivers, cooks, buddies, people to help care for pets, housekeepers, errand-runners, people to help fill out paperwork, speakers, etc. An hour each week or a few hours per month can make a tremendous difference!