Schoolteachers for Action Against HIV/AIDS-related Oral Disease of Children in Africa

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Purpose: The intention of the study was to evaluate whether Sub-Saharan schoolteachers may play a key role in oral health promotion of primary schoolchildren, particularly in terms of prevention of HIV/AIDS-related oral health problems. Materials and Methods: The study examined the level of knowledge about oral disease and the prevention of HIV/ AIDS oral lesions amongst schoolteachers of Tanzania and Burkina Faso, identified their sources of information, and evaluated their ability for HIV/AIDS intervention. A multi-centre cross-sectional study was implemented in the two Sub-Saharan African countries. Participants comprised primary school teachers selected by stratified cluster sampling: 261 teachers from Tanzania and 313 teachers from Burkina Faso. All participants completed a structured question naire prepared for self-administration. The questions were designed from a standardised questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization. Results Most teachers knew about the principal causes of the major oral diseases and the means of disease pre vention. Nearly all teachers (95.6%) were aware of HIV/AIDS and they knew (92.3%) a virus was the direct cause of AIDS. Teachers were well informed of the general symptoms of HIV/AIDS, although oral symptoms were mentioned less often. In all, 17.6% of schoolteachers reported that children suffering from HIV/AIDS were found in their classes and 10.3% of teachers were conscious of students receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Knowledge about the dis ease seemed to reflect mass media as a source, while teacher colleagues and health personnel played a somewhat lesser role in communication. In total, 83.2% emphasised that they should teach children about HIV/AIDS and the mouth. Schoolteachers from Tanzania (70.5%) were more often engaged in classroom-based oral health education than were the Burkinabe teachers (53.9%). Conclusion The study confirms that schoolteachers may be a relevant source in the fight against HIV/AIDS among children. However, they would benefit from interaction with health personnel.

Original languageEnglish
JournalOral Health and Preventive Dentistry
Volume20
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)69-75
Number of pages7
ISSN1602-1622
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

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© This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

    Research areas

  • Hiv/aids oral lesions, Oral disease prevention, Public health, Schoolteachers

ID: 310929726