Educators against condoms in schools

Sexual abstinence, not condoms, should be the key anti-AIDS message in schools, African education officials said during a meeting on the impact of HIV/AIDS on education held recently in South Africa's port city of Durban. However, some attendees felt that schools should at least provide information on how sexually active school-age children could access condoms. South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper quoted Zambia's HIV/AIDS coordinator in the Ministry of Education, Irene Malambo, as saying, "Education is about providing information. We can provide information about condoms and where to get them, but they should not be distributed at schools. The Health Department should do the distribution." Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe were among the countries represented at the gathering.