This publication discusses the rationale and relevance of clinical mentoring to the public health approach to scaling up HIV care and antiretroviral therapy. This discussion is based on the Planning consultation on clinical mentoring: approaches and tools to support scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy and HIV care in low-resource settings, Geneva, Switzerland, 7–8 March 2005 and the Working meeting on clinical mentoring: approaches and tools to support the scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy and HIV care in low-resource settings, Kampala, Uganda, 16–18 June 2005