Overview
In January 2004, executives from around the world gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York for a meeting hosted by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, UNAIDS, and the Kaiser Family Foundation to discuss the role of media corporations in addressing the global AIDS pandemic. As a concrete result of the meeting, Secretary General Annan launched the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), which calls upon the world’s media leaders to use their resources to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Since that initial gathering at the U.N., there has been considerable activity around the globe by a number of GMAI media executives, including major new or expanded public education initiatives developed in partnership with media companies in India, Russia, South Africa and the United States. To support these efforts, national leadership sessions, modeled on the first session at the U.N., have subsequently been organized to bring together executives from major regional broadcasters, including: Johannesburg (Southern Africa Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS: October 2005); San Francisco (Public Broadcasters Global Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS: May 2005); Delhi (India Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS: January 2005); and Moscow (Eurasia Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS: October 2004).

The GMAI was conceived of and organized by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Kaiser Family Foundation. At the 2nd meeting of the GMAI in Cannes, France (April 2005), Bill Roedy, Vice Chair, MTV Networks and President, MTV Networks International, was named Chair of the Leadership Committee for the GMAI. On December 1, 2006 – World AIDS Day – the Chairmanship was officially handed over to Dali Mpofu, CEO of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

• GMAI website