Improving Health Through the HIV/AIDS Curriculum

March 1, 2012

In Mozambique and Malawi about 15 percent of the population is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In such AIDS-afflicted areas, the task of caring for ill parents or relatives often falls on children, and these responsibilities compel many students to drop out of school.

Nancy Kendall works to improve life for Mozambican and Malawian school children affected by HIV/AIDS and to improve young women's reproductive health. An assistant professor of Educational Policy Studies, Kendall her colleague Clair Wendland study local HIV/AIDS curricula to see what children are taught and how they respond.

Studies have shown that the current curriculum has little or no impact. Kendall says that may be due to its failure to address children’s daily experiences with HIV and AIDS. Eventually Kendall’s work will inform international responses to the AIDS crisis in Africa and offer evidence for improving educational policies there.

Back at her home base at UW-Madison, Kendall introduces students to the origins, development, and central themes in globalization and education (GE). Students explore controversies and debates that characterize the field, and reflect on how comparative and GE studies and approaches inform teaching and research practices.

The class addresses questions including, "How does globalization (differentially) affect educational experiences around the world? How does globalization affect the purposes and intended outcomes of education for states, communities, individuals, businesses, and international organizations?"

Kendall hopes to press the U.S. government and international groups to revise their international policies. She says, “International development organizations need to think more carefully about the unintended consequences of their work, the relationships and programs they are fostering, and how they can improve.”