Education Portfolio Report: April 2006

A report from the NAPWA Education Portfolio Convenor presented to the NAPWA Special General Meeting held on 29-30 April 2006.

Education Reference Group and Education Managers’ Forum

Creating the NAPWA Education Reference Group (ERG) late last year has been an important development for the portfolio. The ERG will generate ideas and debate on education policy and be a platform for national communication on positive education. We have now had our first two meetings (by teleconference), and members of the reference group have also taken part in education forums

Alongside the new ERG structure, the Education Portfolio Convenor is now a member of the AFAO [1]Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations. AFAO is the peak non-government organisation representing Australia's community-based response to HIV/AIDS. AFAO's work includes education, policy, advocacy and international projects. Education Managers’ Forum (EMF). This is attended by AIDS Council Education Managers from each state and territory (and from the next meeting it will also include representatives from Scarlett Alliance and AIVL). Among the issues discussed at the most recent meeting of the EMF were: the AFAO Education Team work plan for 2006- 2007, the increased reporting of serosorting (negotiating unprotected sex with casual partners on the basis of perceived knowledge of HIV status) and the implications this has for HIV prevention , and the coming Educators’ Conference in May.

Work with the AFAO Education Team

The NAPWA Education Portfolio has continued to work closely with the AFAO Education Team in a number of areas. NAPWA sent five representatives to the Research into Practice workshop on gay men and relationships organised by AFAO. Workshops like these are significant opportunities for capacity building, particularly for our member organisations. One immediate and tangible outcome of this workshop is that PLWHA (NSW) has begun work on two Health Promotion discussion groups and fact sheets on pos-pos and pos-neg relationships for gay men.

NAPWA also sent five representatives to the STIs [2][Sexually Transmissible (or Transmitted) Infection] Infections spread by the transfer of organisms from person to person during sexual contact. Also called venereal disease (VD) (an older public health term) or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). workshop, and the NAPWA reps gave feedback to the forum on PLWHA organisation perspectives on STIs. This included supporting a culture of regular testing while also acknowledging the already overloaded health agenda of many people with HIV.

David Menadue and I, as part of the implementation group for the National Positive Education needs assessment project, have given feedback to AFAO on its development. This project is an important one as it looks at the needs, gaps and ways to improve delivery of resources and programs for positive education in each state and territory. Other work with the AFAO Education Team has included being on the steering committee for the coming Educators’ Conference in May.

Positive people and Prevention

The portfolio has continued to work on the issues of HIV positive people and prevention. I facilitated two workshops at the last NAPWA Conference, one on disclosure and the other on the principles for involving HIV positive people in HIV prevention work. Following on from that, I gave a presentation at the ACON Roundtable late last year on the Principles of prevention with feedback from the NAPWA Conference workshop. The ERG has been working on these outcomes of the Principles of prevention workshop so it can be distilled down into a shorter reader friendly document for the NAPWA website.

Stigma

Stigma is an important issue in the lives of many people living with HIV/AIDS. As part of a symposium at the Social Research Conference in April I will be giving a presentation on stigma and identity and how these are produced and played out in texts of the PLWHA movement.

Glenn Flanagan
Education Portfolio Convenor