Special needs of in-school HIV positive young people in Uganda

Since 2006, the Population Council has pioneered operations research in collaboration with local partners in Uganda to promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people aged 10–19 years infected with HIV. Key findings show that many young people perinatally infected with HIV want to be in school to avoid social isolation, and about 70 percent of them attend school. However, there has been limited understanding of how the education sector should support this vulnerable group of learners. The objective of this study was to explore the special needs of HIV-positive young people in primary and secondary schools in Uganda to identify possible responses by the education sector to those needs. The study involved a survey of 718 young people aged 12–19 years perinatally infected with HIV, in-depth interviews with 52 school officials, and 938 student essays on HIV/AIDS