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Governments are ill-prepared to deal with the impact of HIV/AIDS on teachers and scholars, a report released by UNAIDS on Wednesday has said.
Conducted among 71 education ministries, the document titled, 'Education Sector Global HIV/AIDS Readiness Survey 2004', noted that less than a quarter of the 20 countries hardest hit by the pandemic offered counselling to HIV-positive students or trained teachers on how to deal with these students.
In addition, not enough was being done to help orphans and vulnerable children, with less than a third of respondents providing programmes for them, while other schools only waived school fees.
The report charged that AIDS had for too long been considered a public health problem rather than a systematic management issue, and that care and support [for staff and pupils] had lagged behind awareness and prevention.
The report stressed an urgent need for a workplace and human resources policy to minimise the sector's vulnerability to the pandemic.
"Teacher training and the provision of counselling services are prerequisites for an effective response," it read.
Access the complete report: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ 
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