Peer Educators expand HIV/AIDS curriculum to cover global issues

The Blair Peer Education program has added a "Global HIV/AIDS" portion to the sexual education curriculum in health classes this school year, according to Program Sponsor Susan Soulé.

The Global HIV/AIDS portion will include information on HIV/AIDS in other countries and the connections between the culture of the country and the status of HIV/AIDS. The classes will also explore government involvement in the epidemic and the role of the U.S. in the issue, said Soulé.

Students of health classes in recent school years have demonstrated interest in HIV/AIDS, which prompted the addition to the curriculum. "Last year, people asked a lot of questions about different cultures and how they affect AIDS," said Peer Educator Tanu Suri, a senior. She predicts that Global HIV/AIDS will answer questions about the disease in other countries.

In addition, the program will allow students to understand the severity of the disease, according to junior Tara Huang, who is training to be a peer educator. "Global HIV/AIDS puts awareness at a whole different level," she said. "It makes you realize it's an epidemic all over the world, not just in our country."

Previously the Peer Education program included basic information on the prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS. It also covered the status of HIV/AIDS infected people within the U.S., according to junior Tara Huang.

The HIV/AIDS curriculum is state-mandated and must be taught to students in tenth grade health classes, according to Soulé. However, Global HIV/AIDS is not part of the state requirement for HIV/AIDS education.

It is necessary to address HIV/AIDS in the Peer Education program as a global crisis instead of limiting it to within the U.S., said Soulé. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that somewhere between 850,000 and 950,000 people in the U.S. are HIV-positive. In addition, the National Institutes of Health states that 60 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV since the disease began, and 20 million so far have died from it.

Soulé believes that education will spread awareness of these statistics, which is an essential step in helping the global crisis. "HIV/AIDS does not have a cure and there isn't one on the horizon, so if we don't get a handle on education and prevention now, then we are bracing for an epidemic," Soulé said.

Blair's Peer Education program began in 1997 and it was designed to make way for a change in traditional instruction and allow students to teach their peers, said Soulé.

It is more effective for students to teach other students when dealing with a serious, somewhat sensitive topic such as HIV/AIDS, according to Suri. "Kids relate better to other kids, and they feel more comfortable asking us questions," she said. "We get a lot of myths cleared up."