EMBASSY HELPS TO REVIVE HIV PREVENTION IN ESTONIAN SCHOOLS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TALLINN 000024 SENSITIVE SIPDIS COPENHAGEN FOR ESTH OFFICE DEPARTMENT FOR S/GAC CAROL LANGBY KYIV FOR LESLIE PERRY ST. PETERSBURG FOR VERA ZAKHAROVA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SOCI EAID KHIV TBIO EN SUBJECT: EMBASSY HELPS TO REVIVE HIV PREVENTION IN ESTONIAN SCHOOLS REF: A) 09 TALLINN 310; B) 08 TALLINN 310 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Despite having the highest HIV infection rate in Europe, Estonia's Ministry of Education and Research (MOER) has not made education on HIV prevention a priority in recent years. In order to draw attention to this issue and help educators share best practices on HIV education, Embassy Tallinn, in cooperation with MOER and the Nordic Council of Ministers, organized a conference November 19 on "The Challenges of Health Education in the Baltic Sea Region." About 80 educators (the target audience), politicians, diplomats and health promoters attended the conference. Speakers from five countries explored curriculum development and the role of educators in sexual education, exchanged best practices on contemporary teaching methodologies in different countries, and discussed the need for closer cooperation with NGOs and student organizations on HIV prevention. The significant display of interest from the U.S. and Nordic Embassies was crucial in getting Minister of Education and Research T????nis Lukas to participate in the conference. End Summary. -------------- -------------- Diplomatic Community Brings Attention Back to HIV -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Graduation from the U.N. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria program (GF) in 2007 ended systematic HIV prevention programs in Estonian schools. Although the Government of Estonia (GOE) made a commitment to continue with all GF activities, MOER did not secure funding for HIV prevention programs in schools. MOER subsequently included HIV prevention under the health education program of the new curriculum that will come into force in September 2010 (REF B); however, the training of teachers on this new curriculum has not started yet. ¶3. (SBU) Beginning in the fall of 2008, Post worked with the Danish Embassy and the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia to secure funding for an international conference to emphasize the importance of HIV prevention in schools and to bring to Estonia foreign expertise on the issue. In response to the strong display of interest from the diplomatic community, Minister of Education and Research T????nis Lukas agreed to speak at the conference. (Comment: This was a major development, as Minister Lukas had not previously been engaged personally on HIV education. End Comment.) -------------- HIV Education in Schools Needs to Change -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Speakers from Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark and Finland discussed best practices on curriculum development and teaching methodologies for HIV prevention and other aspects of sexual education. The experience shared by two USAID-funded NGOs, Stellit of St. Petersburg and International HIV/AIDS Alliance of Kyiv (IHAA),was particularly valuable for the teachers from Russian language schools where, because of cultural differences and a lack of materials, HIV prevention has been a major challenge. The Russian language handouts, teaching materials and interactive games provided as samples by Stellit and IHAA were most popular and contributed to the practical value of the conference. -------------- TALLINN 00000024 002 OF 002 Comment -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The HIV education conference that post initiated brought together politicians, diplomats, educators and HIV activists for the first time ever in Estonia. The conference proved that Estonia has a long way to go to upgrade HIV prevention in schools. The conference clearly demonstrated to MOER the need to focus on this issue. Although Minister Lukas did not mention HIV in his presentation, his participation sent the right message to the teachers. Post was unable to bring a U.S. speaker to the conference, however, the expertise from USAID-sponsored Russian and Ukrainian NGOs helped to communicate some of the methods practiced in their countries under USAID's HIV programs. ¶6. (U) Post would like to thank Embassy Kyiv, Embassy Moscow and Consulate St. Petersburg, especially Leslie Perry and Vera Zakharova, for helping to identify the right speakers and assisting with their travel. Their liaison with the speakers was instrumental for the success of the conference. POLT