The series is the centerpiece of a multifaceted global campaign to raise awareness of the AIDS crisis, with major funding for the project provided by the AOL Time Warner Foundation. Pandemic: Facing AIDS follows five stories of people living with AIDS in countries around the world, revealing the heartaches and triumphs of coping with a stigma and effects of the devastating disease. Showing how AIDS tests people in unexpected ways, the series chronicles the minor miracles that occur in the face of doom. Treatment, prevention, education, mother-to-child transmission, the stigma of AIDS, and harm reduction are among the issues explored in the series, as well as the many obstacles and opportunities faced by the individuals in the film.
The five countries profiled in Pandemic: Facing AIDS represent a cross-section of cultures and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS. In India, a truck driver and his pregnant wife, both HIV-positive, take every precaution to prevent HIV transmission to their baby. Pandemic: Facing AIDS is directed by Rory Kennedy; produced by Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus; narrated by Elton John; original score by Philip Glass with additional music by Miriam Cutler; edited by Kate Amend; directors of photography, Nick Doob and Tom Hurwitz; written by Mark Bailey. For HBO: supervising producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/pandemic/