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This study is part of the Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV/AIDS and Gender co-ordinated by the Southern Africa Editors Forum (SAEF); with Gender Links and the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network as the lead agencies for the newsroom policy sub-sector.

The MAP on HIV/AIDS and Gender is a collaborative effort by the Southern African Editors Forum (SAEF) and NGO partners to improve coverage of HIV/AIDS and gender, as well as mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the media industry.

The policy roll out process in South Africa was among the lowest in the countries targeted by MAP. The initial number of media houses targeted in South Africa was 18. However, very little progress was made in getting buy-in from these media.

Seychelles was one of the French speaking countries targeted in MAP’s Francophone expansion together with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Madagascar. With a small population of just over 80,000 the country also has few media houses but proved to be the most complex in the implementation of the MAP policy roll out process.

The MAP policy roll out process in Namibia has been very slow. However, there was some acceleration in 2008. MAP started with a target of 17 media houses but this number has since gone down to 13.

Since the launch of the HIV and AIDS and Gender Baseline Study in 2006, the MAP policy roll out process has enjoyed steady progress in Malawi. Together with Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania, Malawi had a high number of media houses targeted for MAP of 27.

Madagascar was one of the countries targeted as part of the Francophone expansion of MAP. Progress in the roll out process in this country has been steady but intermittant for the targeted 17 media houses.

Progress in the implementation of the MAP process in Lesotho was swift. The roll out process started with a target of 17 media houses but ended with 13 that have since drafted and launched their polices.

As part of the objective to expand MAP into Francophone countries, in July 2007 Gender Links went on an exploratory visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to determine the feasibility of the project in that country.

The Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV and AIDS and Gender initially started with a target of 11 media houses in Botswana. These were; Mmegi/The Reporter, Daily News, Botswana Press Agency; Radio Botswana, The Botswana Guardian and Midweek Sun, The Voice, The Botswana Gazette, Gabz FM, Yarona FM, Sunday Standard and The Mirror.