This article is based on a theoretical exploration of the concept of mainstreaming and actual experience of the African ministries of education in the region. The empirical part of the article is largely based on the initiative of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (henceforth ADEA) on ""Identifying Promising Approaches to HIVAIDS in Education in sub-Saharan Africa"". The initiative was conceived in April 2001 and it is ongoing. The article examines the application of the concept of mainstreaming in education programming. It argues that even though there is tangible evidence of the process of mainstreaming HIV in education systems, there are still both theoretical or rather conceptual problems as well as problems related to implementation of programmes. Our purpose is exploratory since not all country case studies under the ADEA initiative have been completed. However, available data enable us to ask such fundamental questions as the following. Have the ministries of education managed to mainstream HIV/AIDS in their respective education systems? If so, how? Is the level or phase of mainstreaming reached by respective ministries sufficient? What are the problems facing the process of mainstreaming in the education sector? The rest of this paper seeks to answer these questions by focusing on the process of mainstreaming as attempted by various ministries of education that are participating in the ADEA initiative.