The SADC Regional Strategic Framework affirms a three pronged approach to combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Southern Africa Region: It will be possible to move forward nationally and regionally if there is - in each country, and within SADC itself- a foundation for action which includes the following building blocks: - Dual approach: strategies to counterattack the pandemic in education that take account of both (1) how to help prevent the further spread of the disease by using resources available to the education sectcor, and (2) how to reduce the consequences of the pandemic on the education sector itself. - Committed and informed leadership: politicians, senior education department officials, and senior international agency staff who are knowledgeable and committed, who are convinced that our situation is grave, and recognise that our learning structures are being steadily undermined. - Collective dedication: understanding that HIV/AIDS in education is not the problem of ministries of education alone. They can only overcome the effects of this pandemic by working with partners inside and outside government. A holistic approach by all sector stakeholders to problems in the whole education sector is now required. - Research and monitoring: a research agenda, along with research principles, priorities, and resources. It should also be possible to identify a set of benchmarks and crisis indicators - alarm bells indicating trouble - which can be monitored over time. - Effective management: recognising that current bureaucratic structures in governments and agencies are not conducive to attacking AIDS. Fighting the pandemic is not a part-time assignment, but a full-time mandate until the situation stabilises. Ministries and agencies must anticipate its consequences, and harness resources to counteract it. - Policy, planning and regulatory framework: working arrangements coordinated within a framework of understanding about the pandemic, and its impact on the sector, and disseminated to those responsible for implementing them. - Resources: adequate funds allocated to the fight against HIV and AIDS, including much more substantial funding and support for local and national nongovernment partners through government or nongovernment funding mechanisms, including fundholders.