Counsellors like Laxmipriya (left) have enabled several adolescent girls living in slums of Bhubaneswar to understand the merits of safe sex. (Copyright: Rakhi Ghosh\WFS)

Pooja Behara (name changed), 16, would probably have never realised that she was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease (STD) had Sabita Buta, a counsellor with a local non government organisation, not come into her cramped slum in Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha, to talk to the adolescent children about HIV/AIDS and the importance of safe sex, sometime early last year.