As has been well documented, TB is the leading cause of death of people living with HIV/AIDS, even in the era of antiretroviral therapy. Yet TB is an eminently curable disease, even though much greater effort is required to develop new diagnostic techniques and therapies to shorten treatment times. TB is therefore of very major concern for the HIV/AIDS community. To assist in addressing this, great efforts are being made by the WHO to urge the integration of HIV and TB responses at the service level.

It is therefore discouraging to find that at the mega-meeting of the StopTB Partnership implementation working groups (including the TB/HIV Working Group), and at the 36th Union World Conference on Lung Health currently taking place, there is no sign of this collaboration at the UN level, as evidenced by the absence of any senior members of the UNAIDS secretariat. As you are no doubt aware, the theme of the Union conference is "Scaling up and sustaining effective tuberculosis, HIV and asthma prevention and control," and it is significant that three members of the community living with HIV and TB were invited to be speakers at the opening ceremony, with the keynote speech given by Zackie Achmat.

We, the undersigned activists living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and/or TB, urge UNAIDS to place much greater emphasis on collaboration with the StopTB Partnership and WHO/STB Dept., and ensure that UNAIDS is represented at an appropriate level in any meetings relevant to TB/HIV care. We also urge greater cooperation at the country level between UNAIDS Country Coordinators and WHO staff working in the field of TB.

Further, we urge UNAIDS to ensure that the topic of TB is included in the agenda of the upcoming UN General Assembly Special Session.

We are convinced that only if TB/HIV co-infection is more seriously addressed in this manner will effective responses be developed, and the scourge of TB become history.

Yours sincerely,

• See also Towards a Revolution in Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention, Care and Treatment released at the Paris conference in English, Spanish, French, and Russian.