The Role of Biology Education in Addressing HIV and AIDS

(formerly The Role of Biology Education In Preventing the Spread of AIDS)

Since the first reports of its occurrence in 1981, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the underlying infection, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have grown to an epidemic of global proportions. The impact on individuals, families, and societies is profound. Experts in all areas of biomedicine and health care agree that education holds the most promise for controlling this deadly disease.

Biology educators must play a central role in addressing the spread of HIV and the global threat of AIDS. Biology education at all levels of instruction should help to develop and improve understanding of the many dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic by stressing the importance of the following topics, in developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive ways. NABT supports the development of sound, responsible educational programs that incorporate current information on HIV and AIDS and encourages incorporation of these points into biology curricula at all appropriate levels:

• All aspects of the biology of the virus and its impact on human health, with emphasis on preventing further spread of the virus.


• The current and future impact of biomedical research on the spread of the virus and the treatment of the disease.


• The current and future impact of the epidemic on national and international policies, especially as they impact cultural differences.


• The epidemic as a case study of major themes in biology.


• The teaching of this subject as a model of best practices in biology education, including:
  • The importance of keeping current on basic information
  
  
  • Providing developmentally appropriate information
  
  
  • Maintaining sensitivity to cultural and individual differences
  
  
  • Integrating fundamental themes of biology
  
  
  • Providing links to current exemplary programs
  
  Adopted by the NABT Board of Directors, November 2003
  
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