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AIDS could kill education - union

Kenya's new free primary education policy risks failure due to HIV/AIDS, local newspaper The Nation reported on Monday. The country's National Union of Teachers has said five teachers die of AIDS-related illnesses every week. "Unless more teachers are recruited, learning in primary and secondary schools will be hampered," union chairman, John Katumanga, warned. The UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, recently commended the 20 percent increase in new school enrolments within the first week of the new policy announcement. However, Katumanga said the figures were still worrying and the pandemic was wiping out teachers at an alarming rate.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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