She came to attend a Uthan Boithak (courtyard meeting) with her mother, held at Chakrajpur village in Kushtia Sadar upazila to make women aware of the disease and some common ailments.

Many teenaged girl and women in the area are now aware of AIDS.

"We know what is AIDS, how it spreads," Anwara, a student of class nine, told this correspondent after the meeting. Many elderly women are also now conscious about fatal and common water-borne diseases, which was beyond imagination several months ago.

FAIR and CDL (Community Development Library), two local NGOs, jointly organised the programme titled 'AIDS: Women are most vulnerable' on their own initiative.

At least 100 female students aged between 10 to 20 and women took part the Uthan Boithak.

The meeting was also addressed by, among others, Director of Kushtia Chamber of Commerce Samim Ahmed and NGO officials Dewan Aktaruzzaman, Atkhtari Sultana and Khondokar Lutfra Rahman.

More such meetings will be held, said Akthrauzzaman, Executive Director of FAIR.