Abstract:
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a serious death toll in the World. It is a
pandemic that affects every continent. Nowhere else has this been more
prominent as in sub-sahara Africa where it poses a great threat to
development. The fight against PHV/AIDS has however gained more
impetus with the realization that young people especially girls are at risk and
increasingly becoming susceptible to the AIDS menace. This threatens to
undermine the great gains made in the Education for All (EFA) initiative and
efforts already put in place to achieve gender equity.
HIV/AIDS is not just a public health problem, it is a development crisis and
countries have to reckon with the way the disease fractures and impoverishes
the society. It is an epidemic of an imaginable magnitude. Therefore, variant
efforts must be made against the disease to reduce the massive infection
rates. Consequently, a renewed commitment to fight the disease must put the
disease at the core of the agenda and take on board the new dimension and
trend that the menace is taking. The most vulnerable members of society
especially the youth and females must not succumb to it.
The impact of HIV/AIDS on girls’ education is particularly an important
aspect in that education is the single most crucial asset that the society can
bestow to its people especially the girls. It is therefore a great paradox that
HIV/AIDS threatens this essential service. Yet education can help the
society and girls to protect themselves from this menacing scourge.
