Peer Education Care and Support Program in South Africa

The goals of the program are to support the South African Department of Education (DoE) to prevent new HIV infections, mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS within the education sector and to strengthen the capacity of the students, educators and education officials to deliver quality education and training. The objective of the activity is to prevent new HIV infections and reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS among the learners and educators. This will be achieved by affecting a change in the sexual behaviors of learners and educators to prevent infections, and for individuals that are HIV + to avoid transmission, and by improving healthy living behaviors. A secondary objective is to reinforce the HIV prevention within the South African education system and to provide quality information through the peer education programs. This information can be used by the DOE at national level, officials at the provincial, district, and school levels to strengthen HIV and AIDS education within the system and programs.