Search
Close this search box.

HIV & AIDS

HIV & AIDS content from the blog…

Visit our blog for more news, resource launches and info about health education and children’s participation or Join Our Community to ensure you never miss a thing!

Children can
learn, collect & share these messages!

Icons_circles-07

CHILDREN SAY THAT WE CAN…

MAKE our own HIV & AIDS Messages using our own words in our own language!

LEARN these messages so we never forget them!

ADD these messages to our collection!

SHARE these messages with other children and our families!

WHAT CAN CHILDREN DO?

COLLECT leaflets and information about HIV & AIDS and share it with our community.

INVITE a health worker to our school to answer our questions about HIV & AIDS.

FIND ways to help children in our community who are affected by AIDS.

PLAY the lifeline game and find out about risky behaviours that could put us in contact with HIV.

PLAY true and false about ways to catch HIV.

LEARN life skills to help us talk about special friendships and our sexual feelings.

PLAY the fleet of hope and find out which safe behaviours we would choose to protect us from HIV in our special friendships.

THINK of all the difficulties someone with HIV or AIDS has to face and what we can do to help.

ROLE play having HIV and find what it might be like to be someone with HIV.

PLAY the true and false game about all the ways HIV can pass from person to person.

ASK someone who has HIV to come and talk to us about their experiences.

LISTEN to and discuss stories about people who are living with HIV and the problems they face.

WHAT CAN CHILDREN MAKE?

MAKE a quiz to find out what we know about HIV & AIDS.

START a question box in our class for our questions on HIV & AIDS.

MAKE a poster for our school about HIV & AIDS.

MAKE a play about Meena and her mum who has HIV and how Meena persuades her mum to go to the clinic to get ART (anti-retroviral therapy) medicine.

START an HIV & AIDS Action club to raise awareness in our school and with our families.

WHAT CAN CHILDREN ASK?

HOW does our immune system work?

WHAT foods help our immune system stay strong and ready for action?

WHAT is HIV and what is AIDS? What do the letters stand for?

WHAT happens when someone finds out they have HIV?

WHAT happens when someone develops AIDS?

HOW is HIV passed from person to person? How is it not? How can we protect ourselves against it?

HOW are people tested and treated for HIV?

HOW can medicines help reduce the risk of mothers passing HIV to their babies?

WHAT other viruses can make us ill?

HOW does ART (anti-retroviral therapy) work and when should someone take it?

WHEN and how our friendships become sexual relationships?

HOW to use a condom correctly?

HOW can we support our friends and family who are living with HIV stay healthy and well?

WHERE is our clinic and what kind of counselling is available for young people?

WHERE is the health centre where someone can get ART?

When teaching children these messages, it can be hard to hold their interest in the topic and keep energy up. For ideas on keeping children engaged and excited, look at Closing Games & Activities.

ALL 10 MESSAGES
HIV & AIDS
  1. Our body is amazing. We have an immune system, and this protects us from germs cause diseases.
  2. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that weakens our immune system and stops our bodies protecting us well from everyday germs. IF HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome).
  3. HIV lives in the blood and other bodily fluids and is invisible to the eye. It can be passed on (1) through sex (2) from HIV positive mothers to their babies during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding (3) in needles or syringes, and (4) through a blood transfusion.
  4. Medicines called AntiRetroVirals (ARVs) keep HIV levels low so a person can live a long time. ARVs prevent the spread of the virus to others.
  5. Children with HIV need strong support from their family, friends and teachers and encouragement to keep going with their medication to stay healthy.
  6. People with HIV can play, share food and drink, hold hands, kiss and hug other people. People do not pass on the virus this way.
  7. A medicine called PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) helps protect people who are at risk of getting HIV.
  8. People protect themselves from getting HIV from sex by (1) having sex using condoms (protected sex) (2) being in a sexual relationship where both partners are HIV negative and do not have sex with others. (3) taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).
  9. To help themselves and others, adults who think they may have HIV can do a simple test at a clinic or with a self-test at home.
  10. Pregnant women should be tested for HIV at the antenatal clinic. If positive, they should get treatment to keep them healthy and stop HIV passing to their baby during pregnancy delivery and breastfeeding.