Life Skills-based Education for HIV Prevention: a Critical Analysis

This 15-page publication from the United Kingdom (UK) Working Group on Education and HIV/AIDS, seeks to share the latest critical thinking and challenges faced in public health and education in respect to life skills education for HIV prevention. The report examines the difficulty in defining life skills and how they should be taught in respect to pedagogy (or teaching.)

According to the report, one of the larger difficulties of introducing life skills into the education system is the need to understand local realities and how educational efforts are applied in this context. While project leaders may be sensitive to the cultural considerations of the local community and recognise the local structural constraints, the report suggests that a real problem for individuals occurs when they may not have access to resources that help them change their lives.

The report states that the more common way to try to work with structural constraints encountered with HIV/AIDS is to "tackle issues of poverty, gender inequality, marginalisation... -...while working with the individual." The report suggests that future programmes and interventions should be based on examining the realities of young people’s lives, with all their complexities, as the place to begin.