‘Task shifting’ is the name given to a process of delegation whereby tasks are moved, where appropriate, to less specialized health workers. These recommendations and guidelines on task shifting, produced by WHO with the US President Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), provide a framework that is informed by all we now know about the ways in which accessto health services can be extended to all people in a way that is effective and sustainable.

Annual report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Control 2008. This year's report shows that nearly 3/4 million people living with HIV fell ill with TB disease in 2006, confirming that TB is a major cause of illness and death in people living with HIV despite being mostly preventable and curable. Africa is yet again the most heavily affected continent, with 85% of the global burden of HIV-related TB.

Given that it reduces a man's risk of acquisition of HIV through penile-vaginal intercourse, male circumcision provides an opportunity to reinforce HIV prevention efforts and thereby promote human rights. A human rights-based approach to introducing or expanding male circumcision services requires measures to ensure that the procedure can be carried out safely, under conditions of informed consent, and without discrimination.

The purpose of this document is to provide practical documentation on regional needs and explain the work of UNAIDS in the various countries.

The global response to the HIV epidemic is at a crossroads. The emergency footing of the response over the past 25 years and the broad social mobilization of stakeholders have spearheaded remarkable action and results. Yet the hard-won gains are fragile and call for a renewed commitment and leadership by the United Nations system. Our joint efforts have produced encouraging results, but many challenges lie ahead.

Special Summit of the African Union on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Special Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Abuja, 4th May

Speech by UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot to Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, Kampala, Uganda 5 March, 2008.

If there is one lesson that this experience has taught me—it is the overriding need to strengthen health systems across our continent. It is my hope and aspiration, that the AIDS response will help lead the way.

The lessons we have learned from 30 years of responding to AIDS can be readily applied to pushing the NCD agenda forward. If the women leaders assembled here today can mobilize the same energy, commitment and perseverance that you have demonstrated in the AIDS response, then we will deliver life-changing results for women, girls and the future of NCDs.