Speaking at a launch of best practices book on reporting HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB in Johannesburg, Kasale said using such people could reinforce the misconception that only a certain cluster of society are infected with HIV. Though health reporting continues to be a challenge in Botswana she asserted that the project has enhanced skills of most journalists. "We brought resource people, journalists and PLWH under one roof and they exchanged ideas on how to improve coverage of HIV/AIDS issues," she said.

A sentiment shared by the head of programmes at Radio Botswana, Monica Mphusu who indicated that the project has harmonised the relations between the government and private press. "We share information as we have a common goal - to reach out to people. We now compete in a healthy way," she said. To some media houses, the project has been a wake up call.

"The project has helped us realize that we have been chasing a wrong story," said the Mmegi editor, Gideon Nkala. He added that most media houses focused on political issues, scandals and corruption. "This is amazing because at some point we had the highest prevalence rate and were rated the least corrupt country, yet we followed stories of corruption at the expense of health issues. But we have now realised that health stories are equally important and we owe it to our people," he said.

A South African singer, who is also UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Yvonne Chaka Chaka agreed that journalists are on a day-to-day basis confronted with the difficulty of deciding whose story to tell and when to tell it. However she decried that a lot of health stories remain untold.

"The media has a role to play in highlighting these issues as well as ensuring that government and civil societies use their limited resources to effectively fight the pandemic," she said. Chaka Chaka challenged attendants to work hard to bring down suffering caused by HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. The Maisha Yetu project began in 2002, an initiative of International Women Media organisation to enhance the quality and consistency of reporting on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB in Africa. The IMWF partnered with three centres of excellence; Botswana, Kenya and Senegal. These countries were chosen because of their diversity. Botswana's prevalence rate is at 37.3 percent, which is considered high, Kenya is at 6.7 percent, which is controlled and Senegal at 0.8 percent.