She is the woman next door with the right message of safe sex. Bula-di, the animated middleclass housewife icon of HIV/AIDS awareness in West Bengal, has emerged as the most credible campaigner of the scourge.

Bula-di has been a familiar figure since World AIDS Day on Dec 1 last year when she appeared on billboards, TV spots and radio jingles as the friendly neighbourhood woman with information about HIV/AIDS, its prevention and the do's and don'ts of safe sex.

"The Bula-di campaign is by far the most successful HIV/AIDS campaign in the state. A formal impact assessment study revealed that as many as 79 percent of all respondents said they had not seen any HIV/AIDS related campaign prior to this," said Suresh Kumar, chief of West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (WBSAPCS).

The first phase of the campaign had been successful in making people aware of the toll free number for any information on the disease. 

The second phase has now been launched. "Phase II tries to generate awareness about STD (sexually transmitted diseases) and HIV/AIDS linkages, STD symptoms, particularly among women, and symptoms of HIV/AIDS infection in people," Kumar said.

This phase will involve the transport sector, chemists, hotels, lodges and liquor shop owners.

Bula-di is no alarmist. When asked something as basic as "doesn't condom usage mean suspecting my partner", she steers clear of debunking the inherent ignorance in the query and replies directly - amiably yet firmly: "Rather, it is the sign of a healthy relationship, son."

Bula-di has now landed up in the kitchen of a woman whose husband is two-timing her. In short, she has - and almost seamlessly - become a part of the family of many.

The use of an approachable female character like Bula-di is important in view of the growing infection among women in India, which has an estimated five million HIV/AID patients, the second highest in the world after South Africa. 

An estimated 6,941 people are HIV positive in West Bengal as per the latest government figures. The number of full-blown AIDS cases in West Bengal is 2,397 as of April 2005.

Drilling in the importance of Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres (VCTCs) and STD clinics to women, Bula-di is now set on erasing longstanding stigmas attached with such institutions.

She urges all to be safe than be sorry.

And she makes an impact. The recall figures for the campaign were highest for Kolkata, Kumar said.
 
The campaign has emerged as a greater success in the age group of 15-26 with unaided recall as high as 61 percent as compared to 52 percent in the age group 27-50 years.

It has ensured the objectives set at the onset that women were the primary target audience. Women (unaided recall 57 percent) seem to have taken notice of the campaign more than men (unaided recall 54 percent).

According to Jayatsen Bhattacharya of O&M, Kolkata, creator of Bula-di: "We needed an ambassador who is intangible but of warm deportment, whose acceptance as a friend/aunt/sister would be guaranteed across a whole cross section of people, playing educator in an amiable and non-controversial manner."