Unam HIV/AIDS Policy

Namibia ranks as one of the four countries most affected with HIV in the world, with a prevalence of around 20% amongst sexually active adults. In Namibia HIV/AIDS is now causing more deaths that TB and malaria combined; life expectancy has fallen from 61 in 1995 to 52 in 1998; by 2010 it is expected to be below 40. For a country with a population of only 1.7 million this situation represents a major threat to progress achieved since independence and to the future of the country - in...
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Namibia ranks as one of the four countries most affected with HIV in the world, with a prevalence of around 20% amongst sexually active adults. In Namibia HIV/AIDS is now causing more deaths that TB and malaria combined; life expectancy has fallen from 61 in 1995 to 52 in 1998; by 2010 it is expected to be below 40. For a country with a population of only 1.7 million this situation represents a major threat to progress achieved since independence and to the future of the country - in economic, political, demographic, social, and human rights terms. The Univerity of Namibia recognises its role as engaging with and responsible towards a wider society, and as the principal agency in developing high calibre educated people on which the future of the country depends. In a renewed effort to respond adequately, it here outlines an HIV/AIDS policy committed to the management and mitigation of the disease at institutional and national levels. It aims to integrate HIV/AIDS into its core functions of teaching, research and community service, and to stress the importance of each member of the university constituency and the wider community for its implementation in entirety. A bibliography, and practical guidelines from the WHO on HIV testing, and dealing with blood spillages follow from the main body of the text.