The treatment-oriented world that has been developing after the production of ARVs and other drugs poses several dangers to HIV prevention programs. First, most of the prevention programs nowadays are medicine-driven. This may occur in several ways, but the most important method is the change from prevention programs to treatment programs. Some scientists have come to the conclusion that the prevention of HIV and AIDS is a failure. They thus have turned their attention to pharmaceutical prevention as the only real way for preventing this epidemic. This thus leads to fewer attempts to educate the public as the scientists and governments have diverted most of the funds for HIV prevention in finding a vaccine or cure.
Another case under this is that drugs may have an adverse effect on the behavior of those infected. People may have a misconception about what ARVs do. When people start getting better, they will start engaging in the same behaviors that got them infected in the first place. Without proper counseling, HIV treatment and AIDS prevention through pharmaceuticals may cause more problems.
The second challenge is that the treatment-oriented climate might divert the focus of political leadership. Good political leadership is important to help curb this disease. If the world becomes too treatment-oriented, prevention programs will lack support by the government, and aspects such as discrimination of the affected, proper sex education, and provision of protective amenities such as condoms may be ignored by the leadership in place. It is also possible that there will be decreased funds for sponsoring prevention campaigns in the country as the leader will be too concerned with treatment programs and neglect the prevention programs.
It has been noted that there might be a failure in accessing treatment programs in some countries. One of the main reasons for this might be political instability caused by war or civil unrest. In countries such as Congo, people have been fighting for a long time, cutting off access routes for the delivery of drugs and other important prevention and treatment services. Lack of security in these areas makes it hard for medical personnel and international aid organization to reach those afflicted.
Another reason why access to treatment programs might fail in some countries is due to an economic restriction. Most HIV treatment drugs are quite expensive. Some countries, however, are very poor and cannot be able to provide sufficient treatment programs to control the HIV epidemic effectively. Patent rules have also made it very hard for some countries to set up and maintain treatment programs. The generic drug trade has been under fire from most pharmaceutical companies, thus further reducing the ability of several countries to acquire drugs so as to run treatment programs.