Life Skills Education Toolkit

MESSAGE

The various stakeholders involved in the formulation of National AIDS Control

Programme (NACP) Phase III have highlighted an urgent need to strategize and develop

relevant tools for addressing HIV prevention, care and support needs of children

infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in the country. The Life skills Education (LSE)

toolkit developed by Family Health International fills an important gap in providing

various dimensions of appropriate communication skill for peer educators, teachers and

counselors working with children.

This toolkit has been developed with the aim of reaching out to children and

adolescents with essential life skills to enable them to off-set the risk of acquiring

Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV, as well as coping with HIV infection of self

and their family members. I am told the toolkit has been used in the USAID-supported

IMPACT projects in six States, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Manipur,

Nagaland and Tamil Nadu, with encouraging results. The evidence from their areas is a

testimony to the need for developing such learning material for the disadvantaged

children.

This toolkit will be useful for NGOs and caregivers in their field areas for

undertaking child-freindly learning sessions and orienting children to core skills for

leading healthy and safe lives. This innovative and practical resource material would

make learning an enjoyable experience for the children coming from disadvantaged

backgrounds. Teachers and care givers who work in such settings would find the toolkit

a more meaningful way of creatively engaging the children and working constructively

with them in dealing with their situation.

I am confident this toolkit will be used by a variety of stakeholders in the

country (health and related Government agencies and local, national and international

NGOs) in effectively reaching out to orphans, vulnerable, infected and affected children

by HIV/AIDS.

(K. Sujatha Rao)

K. Sujatha Rao
Additional Secretary & Director General

National AIDS Control Organisation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

9th Floor Chandralok Building, 36 Janpath, New Delhi - 110001 Phone: 011-23325331 Fax: 011-

E-mail: [email protected]

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Know yor HIV status; go to the nearest Government Hospital for free Voluntary Counselling and Testing

11 th May, 2007

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