But that's no excuse for doing nothing. Instead, he and others hope that programs like the local initiative in Khayelitsha will demonstrate that treatment also has value as a prevention tool. If Quinn's research pans out, then effective treatment could prevent new infections via heterosexual sex. Heywood, Goemaere, and others believe that only with the prospect of treatment will people begin to listen to prevention messages, or take the major step of learning their status. You can't prevent HIV effectively if you can't treat it.
Treatment is an incentive for testing.
If a pilot program helps a community accept HIV testing and prevention messages, then even a limited offering can have widespread effects. Even those small numbers will foster optimism. We believe that treatment brings hope, and hope helps people to enter reality. When it comes to using antiretrovirals in the developing world, it's not a simple matter of importing the Western standard of care. Protease inhibitors , the cornerstone of most regimens in the United States and Europe, cause an array of toxic side effects.