A/65/162 and reproductive health is included in the compulsory curriculum for children aged 10 to 12 and is taught as an extracurricular subject for those aged 6 to 9. 55. According to the International Bureau of Education, HIV/AIDS is a mandatory subject in primary education in 10 of the 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 52 However, in many African countries, adolescents have no access to information on sexuality. 53 On the basis of a number of studies carried out in the region, 54 it is estimated that almost half of the people who have received sexual education received no information on topics considered to be of key importance (contraception, pregnancy and pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted diseases and the right to say no to sex). In the vast majority of cases, sexual education is provided through lectures; only in a few cases are more effective tools, such as interactive or group activities, used. 56. The way in which sexual education is incorporated into the official curriculum is not uniform across the region. In some cases, such as in Namibia, it is included in the subject “life skills”, but the content relating to HIV is inadequate and needs to be enhanced. 55 57. According to a study carried out by the Guttmacher Institute, about half of 15-19-year-olds in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda have received some form of sexual education at school. 56 In Malawi, 66 per cent of females and 56 per cent of males aged 15-19 who have attended school report that they have not received any kind of sexual education. In Burkina Faso the challenge is greater, since more than half of 15-19-year-olds have never attended school.56 Also, in the final years of primary education (age 12-14), young people are reaching a sexually active age and therefore need to have specific knowledge on preventing unwanted pregnancy and HIV infection. This suggests that sexual education should start before the end of primary education if it is to have some degree of effectiveness and a chance of changing behaviour. 58. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight the experience of Denmark, where teacher training in sexual education is carried out in conjunction with Sex & Samfund (“Sex and Society”), the Danish Family Planning Association. The Special Rapporteur considers this to be a good example of a collaborative relationship between the State and civil society in the search for tools for promoting sexual education and providing it to the whole population. The valuable initiatives of the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights should also be mentioned. 59. It is estimated that by the end of 2008, 33.4 million people around the world were living with HIV, and the number of AIDS-related deaths that year was __________________ 52 53 54 55 56 10-46213 International Bureau of Education and UNESCO, Assessment of curriculum response in 35 countries for the EFA monitoring report 2005: The Quality Imperative (Geneva, 2004), p. 37. Mary Ogechi Esere, “HIV/AIDS awareness of in-school adolescents in Nigeria: Implications for adolescence sexuality”, in Journal of Psychology in Africa, 16 (2) (2006), pp. 255-258. Guttmacher Institute, national surveys of adolescents: occasional reports 2004/2006 (New York). Ministry of Health and Social Services of the Republic of Namibia, United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Country Progress Report: Reporting Period 2008-2009 (2010), p. 18. Ann E. Biddlecom and others, Protecting the Next Generation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Learning from Adolescents to Prevent HIV and Unintended Pregnancy (New York, Guttmacher Institute, 2007). 15