“There has never been such an overwhelming move to increase access to medicines in such a short period”. In one sentence, a conference speaker had given participants a view of the magnitude of the debate that conference organizers, KIT, Share-Net and Aids Fonds, ignited when they asked: “3 by 5: what are the implications?” The HIV/AIDS pandemic had been put in the right dramatic context without using dramatic effects. But by referring to the history of public health care, the speaker went beyond the limitations of the conference question, suggesting that traditional approaches will be far from sufficient to address the problem of HIV/AIDS.