HIV & AIDS-A Deep Human Concern

how to read and write. It was not just that we
were learning mechanical things on a page.
We had to learn very deeply how to link
the first word of the sentence with the last
word. How to link the words together with
their grammar, shorter sentences at first,
and later longer ones that we could read and
internalise.
the schools, and had their education, there
is considerably less HIV infection than
amongst the older ones. Education was not
a vaccine, or a vaccine that was being used
wrongly in the early days, whereas today it is
proving its worth.
We used to say about them in the early days
that the problem was the “Three M”s, and
they are not the little sweets. The “Three
M’s” were: Men, Mobility, and Money. Put
them into combination, and HIV spread very
easily amongst populations in Africa and in
other parts, but that dynamic or that scenario
is now changing and changing for the
better. Where there is money, where there is
mobility, but where also there is education,
there you have a chance of less HIV. There
you have people who will present themselves
earlier for treatment. There you will have
people who will adhere to the treatment.
Another speaker pointed out MSM, the men
who have sex with men, but we are thinking
now of MEM: men who are educated men,
and that there, there will be much less of
HIV. Think back to the time when we learned
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Now that is a whole process that goes on
with the individual and it seems to transform
an individual, that they regard life as very
different when this has happened. Also,
occurring with individuals, is the ability to
delay gratification, to put it off, to say, “No
I cannot do that now, I have my homework
to do”. The discipline that is involved in the
simple things of schooling is something that
stays with people, and when they know a
little bit more about this epidemic, it stays
with them to help them to defend themselves
against it. We do not use the word discipline
very much nowadays but it is something that
is very, very real.
We have very strong evidence from Uganda
and from some other countries of the infection
rate coming down in communities for those
with secondary or with primary education,
and staying level much higher for those
with no school education. This happened
at a time when there was no sex education
in schools, and when even the very quality
of education was not good. Education can
do more. It can do infinitely more, because
the better educated know information is not
knowledge, but the information has got to be
there. They are able to take in the messages
that are coming to them through the media
all around them. Now, the social media are
kicking in throughout Africa, and this is
being used by the people there.
Those who are better educated know the
importance of going for a test and following
up on it, not just getting the test, but going
back for it. Educated people know much
more about nutrition and the importance of
a nutritious diet, which is all tied up with
HIV. You are much more susceptible to