Internationally acclaimed singer/performer Runa Laila and husband actor/singer Alamgir have signed up a contract for one year to serve as spokespersons for UNAID.

UNAIDS’ campaign is part of the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum Initiative on HIV and Aids to which Runa and Alamgir have just added their part. The initiative’s South Asian portion was launched in 2002.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/0/05/165px-Runa_Laila.jpg

The couple will target mainly young people who are increasingly vulnerable to HIV infections because of lack of information, low perceptions about risks, UNAIDS said in a statement.

Financial Express reports, an estimated 13,000 people are HIV-infected in Bangladesh. People in the conservative society are reluctant to talk about sex and sexually transmitted diseases in families or schools.

The infection rate among intravenous drug users is above 4.0 per cent, while it is only about 1.0 per cent among sex workers, but risk factors for rapid spread of the deadly virus highly exist, experts said. The risk of spreading the virus is high, as Bangladesh shares a 4,000-kilometre porous border with India, which has high prevalence rate of HIV-infection with more than five million people infected with the virus. People cross the border frequently, posing serious threats of HIV-infection, while unsafe blood transfusion is a serious problem in Bangladesh, experts said.

Dan Odallo, UNAIDS Country Representative in Dhaka, said his organisation would continue support to keep the prevalence rate low in Bangladesh.