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Our study focused on two topics, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and their control using condoms. For this, we analysed and compared 42 school textbooks from 16 countries on the general topic "Human Reproduction and Sex Education" using a specific grid designed by the BIOHEAD-Citizen project. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was a common topic in all the textbooks that were analyzed, although it appeared in quite different chapters, such as, Human Procreation (the control of reproduction, the hygiene of reproduction, or in chapters devoted to STIs and AIDS), Immunology (with AIDS as an example of immune deficiency), and Personal Protection. Some textbooks provided information about other STIs in addition to AIDS. There appeared important differences among countries concerning both the number of images in the textbooks and the number of STIs that were discussed in the textbooks. There were also differences among various textbooks addressing the same educational level that came from different publishers in terms of the way that STIs were presented. More than half of the analyzed textbooks did not link the presentation of STIs with their prevention via the use of condoms, and only a few textbooks illustrated an unrolled male condom on the penis. Our results also indicated that (i) for most of the analyzed biology textbooks there was a preference for the biomedical model of health education that provided sufficient scientific knowledge, (ii) only in Finland, there was an attempt for promoting competencies relating to a healthy sexual behaviour, and (iii) the textbooks from Morocco and Tunisia illustrated how traditional values could be promoted in parallel with biomedical knowledge by using injunctive moral content. Interactions between scientific knowledge (K), values (V), and social practices (P) had been found and seemed to determine what was present (and how)in school textbooks. (Contains 6 tables and 13 figures.)

School programs are defined to promote the health of the pupils and to develop their competencies so that they can adopt behaviors favorable to their health. With the European project FP6 Biohead-Citizen (2004-2007), we analyzed the conceptions of teachers as regards health education, in France, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, in reference to the biomedical model and the social health model. These four countries were selected because their school curricula represented different models of health education. Lebanon and Tunisia addressed health education with the biomedical model. In Morocco, the curriculum was also primarily based on the biomedical model and enclosed a few instructions issued from the social health model. In France, the health education curriculum declared an approach based on the health promotion model. Our study was based on multivariate statistical analyses of questionnaires filled out by 2537 in-service and pre-service teachers. Our analysis showed that the conceptions of the teachers concerning health education were not structured and related to a specific model. We also found that the dominating factors of influence on the choices expressed with regards to health education were, among different sociocultural variables, the religion, the home country, and, to a lesser extent, the level of training. Thus, the conceptions of the teachers were not integrated into comprehensive approaches but related to individual characteristics. Consequently health education implementation would require thorough training for pre-service and in-service teachers and should also explicitly take into account their conceptions and values.