Mediating HIV/AIDS strategies in children’s literature in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The Ministry of Education and Culture in Zimbabwe has introduced an intervention into the school curricula to complement the already existing mechanisms in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The literature in this programme is said to be designed to develop children’s knowledge of HIV/AIDS and to maximise both individual and community commitment to the safest protective behaviour possible. This paper argues that despite the Ministry’s efforts there is a dearth of such literature which would depict human relations and experiences in the context of HIV/AIDS in the corpus of Zimbabwean children’s literature in schools. It proposes that more fiction about HIV/AIDS could effectively complement the current non-fictional texts used in most Zimbabwean schools. This paper seeks therefore, to clarify the need for fictional narratives in which the disease plays a part since they will provide the main context in which young children learn to cope with the realities associated with HIV/AIDS through education. It posits that Zimbabwean children’s literature should also depict the conceptual framework within which health, human interaction and sexuality are understood in relation to the epidemic.