About the HIV and AIDS Minicourse

NOTE: This course is offline and unavailable while we update it with the most current information and teaching.  It will be back online when we are done. Thank you for your patience.

Twenty years after the first evidence of AIDS was reported, the global statistics reported by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) remain staggering:

• More than 40 million people are living with HIV and AIDS.
• More than 21 million people have already died.
• HIV and AIDS is now the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth most common cause of death worldwide.

Yet, while the spread of HIV infection is a global threat, efforts to prevent and control the disease in many countries have been impeded by a lack of medical resources, a lack of public education, political constraints, an unwillingness to acknowledge the problem, and difficulties in estimating the extent of HIV spread in many countries.

HIV and AIDS is a prevalent and important health problem for reproductive health client populations, and it is a particular threat in the developing world, which is home to more than 90% of people living with HIV and AIDS. Most reproductive health clients are women, who are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection due to both biological and social-cultural factors, including pervasive gender inequalities. Women's biological vulnerability is compounded by gender-based, social, cultural, economic, and political inequalities that hamper their ability to protect themselves from infection. For example, many women lack power within sexual relationships that would enable them to negotiate with partners and protect themselves.

Who is this course for?
This course is designed for reproductive health and other health care providers, staff, planners, and managers in resource-poor settings who would like to improve their knowledge of HIV and AIDS, with the end result of improving the services provided to their clients. Although these are the primary audiences for this course, the information may be useful to others interested in learning more about HIV and AIDS.