02
JUN
2010
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has awarded TeachAIDS funding to support the development of culturally-appropriate and medically-accurate HIV/AIDS prevention materials for Botswana. Partnered with the Botswana Ministry of Education and UNICEF, the TeachAIDS animated tutorials will be developed in both Setswana and English (Botswana’s national languages) and implemented into every primary, secondary, and tertiary institution across the country.

As of 2009, 17.6 percent of Botswana’s total population are infected with HIV, yet nine out of ten infected are unaware of their status. For Botswana, a country experiencing tremendous HIV fatigue, the idea for developing the TeachAIDS tutorials arose out of a need to provide more interesting, engaging, and culturally-appropriate teaching materials which promote information retention to address the significant HIV-related knowledge gap.

The TeachAIDS project will target 1,066 institutions covered under the government, with learners ranging from ages 6 to 24 years old. The TeachAIDS materials will also be made available for free to educators operating in informal learning environments (such as churches, after-school programs, boys and girls clubs, and village outreach programs), and any other organizations operating outside the scholastic environment.

TeachAIDS is proud to partner with UNICEF and thankful for their financial support.