School health education to prevent the spread of AIDS: overview of a national programme.

The ultimate goal of CDC's School Health Education to Prevent the Spread of AIDS programme is to reduce the incidence of HIV infection among school-aged youth. Working objectives that integrate programme research and development activities are listed in the opposite Table. In 1982 it was estimated that of the 4.6 billion people in the world, about one billion were school-aged, and about 870 million of these youth were enrolled in schools. WHO, UNESCO, and the International Union for Health Education have recognized that schools could provide a critical means for ensuring that young people throughout the world understand the global AIDS pandemic they face, and what they can do to protect themselves, the families for which they will become responsible, and the communities in which they will reside. But if schools are to provide effective AIDS education, they will require the commitment and active collaboration of education and health leaders in local, national, and international agencies.