| Abstract: | With the increased occurrence of HIV and AIDS among children, the education system of countries is particularly burdened as these children survive into adulthood and beyond, as anti-retroviral regimens are increasingly effective in prolonging life. One of the most challenging problems presented to educators, when confronted with the growing HIV/AIDS school population, is the planning of education programmes based on these children's information-processing strengths, but also taking into account HIV/AIDS related cognitive restraints. An education-focused response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic requires a clear understanding of medical and neuropsychological effects of HIV/AIDS-related illness on cognition and residual learning difficulties, as well as a clear understanding of the educational needs of these learners. The impact of medical conditions such as HIV encephalopathy or encephalitis (also know as the AIDS dementia complex), subcortical dementia, cranial calcifications, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), cerebrovascular disease, progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML), white matter disease, toxoplasmosis, syphilis, meningitis and ophthalmic problems leading to educational difficulties are discussed. From this information we propose an instructional delivery framework for children with HIV/AIDS and argue the importance of addressing the educational needs of this growing population of children. A broad multidisciplinary approach is essential if we are to understand the complexity of the pandemic and respond to it. |
