In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star at Hotel Sonargaon in the city yesterday, Dr Nafis, also the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia, said, "support of religious leaders is very important. In Bangladesh, Mullahs are trained on AIDS awareness building. Bangladesh should preach this model to other OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) countries."

Dr Nafis, who served the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for 30 long years since 1971 in various capacities including Executive Director in 1987, came to Dhaka this time to deliver keynote speech at 'Second Sub-regional Parliamentary Seminar on HIV/AIDS in South Asia' in Dhaka attended by the Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Dr Nafis was fresh from an audience with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia as she was talking to The Daily Star yesterday afternoon. Referring to her meeting with the prime minister, she said, "the prime minister is very positive about AIDS interventions. She is open to the ideas of introducing female condoms and adolescent awareness building."

"You know what you must do to raise the curtain of silence and denial. You must advocate for universal condom provision through health services and commercial outlets," said Dr Nafis, one of the highest ranking women in the UN system.

Dr Nafis, also the first woman in the United Nations' history to lead its major voluntarily-funded programme, asserted that if Bangladesh could do well with its HIV/AIDS prevention activities, there would be no fund constraints to support the country in its AIDS programmes.

The UN secretary general's Special Adviser put emphasis on focusing on the AIDS issues from the highest level of leadership as she was citing the examples of Thailand and Cambodia. These two southeast Asian nations were able face the challenge of HIV epidemic because of active highest-level leaderships.

"Cambodian prime minister speaks out on HIV/AIDS at every occasion, while in Thailand, moves on AIDS prevention came directly from the prime minister's office," Dr Nafis said adding, "Use of condom in commercial sex is a law in Thailand."

Despite a low prevalence of AIDS in Bangladesh, Dr Nafis is for taking extra cautions as there are many sex workers and drug peddlers across the borders of Bangladesh with high incidences of HIV in India and Myanmar.

"Bangladesh Ministry of Health Affairs, however, is quite concerned about increase in HIV positive cases among intravenous drug users (IDUs)," she added.

According to Dr Nafis, drug use is associated with casual and commercial sex, which further spreads infection. "In central Bangladesh, comprising mainly of Dhaka city, overall HIV prevalence among IDUs has increased from 1.4 % to 4.9 % between 2001 and 2005 with one small pocket showing an even higher rate of 8.9 % in 2005."

Dr Nafis emphasises the fact that in terms of infection rate, South Asia at present stands where southern Africa stood a decade ago. "All the conditions are in place for a general outbreak in South Asia in the next decade."

Dr Nafis, herself a South Asian national from Pakistan, specially stressed the need for protecting young girls who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

"In India, for example, more than 90 percent of HIV-positive women are married and monogamous. Many of these married women are young, some of them very young."

Lauding the parliamentarians' role in Bangladesh, irrespective of party affiliations, in addressing the issues of HIV/AIDS, Dr Nafis also pinned high hope on Bangladesh's faring well in achieving some of the crucial MDG (millennium development goals) targets like women education and reduction in child and maternal mortality.