It is largely acknowledged that prevention is the mainstay of HIV intervention; the question is how best to achieve it, considering the challenges of continued high incidence. The HIV experience, which should also be studied with public health lens, has shown that knowledge and access to tools is not enough to curb risky behavior. Rather, it is imperative to focus on why people take risks, notwithstanding the complexity of the matter. Among other things, it requires taking into account the contextual or society-level factors driving risky behavior. This focus on the root causes of risk behavior means that technological innovation alone is insufficient to address those underlying factors. Broader analyses that take into account a combination of multiple interrelated and complementary factors are needed. The case of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is a good example; it has been shown to be essentially driven by multiple and concurrent partnerships, which in turn are driven by a combination of numerous social, cultural and economic reasons. Technological innovations tend to focus on the proximate biological determinants and thus offer one-dimension solutions that make little or no reference to the integral well-being of each person. They have in fact been found to inhibit the motivation to opt out of risky behavior. This paper seeks to underline the overriding importance of behavior change approaches as the optimal means to safeguard and enhance human dignity. They demonstrate a broader and more optimistic view of the human person and his or her capacity and willingness to change behavior rather than concede to destructive conduct. This perspective is backed by the 20th century public health experience that shows that behavior can indeed change and that intervention need not be driven by commodities. Less reliance on technological innovation is imperative if the human person is to flourish.