Although this came out in 2006, I managed to catch a rerun of this program recently(you can view it here on PBS).

This is a powerful and in depth report on the social impact, political response (or lack of) and scientific struggles around HIV/AIDS.  It illustrated the painful personal struggles of people facing the disease and the anemic response from Regan and Bush Sr. administrations as the epidemic gained momentum at an alarming rate.   In the onset of the AIDS epidemic, it was not politically popular to advocate for the health of IV drug users and gay men (hit by this disease in the US first) until it affected other populations which were safer to address because it fit the abstinence model of the religious right.  Who says medicine and politics are unrelated? It was unfortunate, but it was.  Affected gay men did not take this lying down, they were extremely vocal and politically active demanding affordable treatment.

To pour more salt into the wounds of these administrations, Frontline examined less powerful and wealthy Asian and African governments who provided public health interventions which worked (direct and clear education about the modes of transmission, condom education and confronting the social stigmatization of the disease), and geez, were not controlled by religious subcultures!

It also showed the dark side of:

1) the pharmaceutical industry which raised the price of AZT when it was discovered to be an effective treatment for HIV, making it unaffordable for most…..

2) our own society, which heckled HIV+ children and their families from schools and the community….

I highly recommend this documentary.