Evaluating school health policies in Zambia: an application to administration of the hiv and aids health education policies in the selected basic schools of Mazabuka district.
Date
2012
Authors
Simuyaba, Eunifridah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Africa federation of teaching regulatory authorities
Abstract
This paper evaluated the effectiveness of the HIV and AIDS school health education
programmes in the selected basic schools of Mazabuka district. The principle objective of the
study was to examine the implementation models of the prevailing school health policies in the
selected schools and to determine the effectiveness of these school-based policies in
transmitting HIV and AIDS health messages. Self-administered questionnaires and a semistructured interview guide were used to collect data from a sample of 180 respondents. Data
for this study was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The study revealed that 94 per cent
of the respondents had a great deal of understanding of basic concepts of HIV and AIDS and
other related knowledge. Additionally, government initiatives through development of
directives on what to teach, who to teach and how to teach HIV and AIDS school health content
have been spotted in all the target schools. The central argument of this paper is that school
based HIV and AIDS health policies exist and that the implemented policies have begun to
yield a positive impact at the basic school level. Finally, the paper established that HIV and
AIDS health education like any other subject in Zambia is not without challenges. Among the
challenges identified was lack of specialised training for health education teachers. The
Ministry of Education (MoH), therefore, needs to train and retrain teachers in HIV and AIDS
health education components in order to instill confidence and effective teaching.
Key words: Evaluation, HIV and AIDS education, School health policies, Basic schools
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
School health policies--Zambia