HIV/AIDS has hit Africa hard with infection rates are as high as 36 per cent in Botswana and 38 per cent in Swaziland. Can ERNWACA member countries,where HIV infection rates vary from .5 per cent in Senegal to 9.7 per cent in Cote d'Ivoire and 11.8 per cent in Cameroon adopt a strategic response and curb its impact on development and in particular on educational systems? What contribution has educational research made and where should it go from here? These questions were among those debated at the regional workshop organized by the Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) and UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP, Paris) in Bamako from 16-18 June 2004, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health of Mali.