Cameroon has launched the 24th edition of its national “Holidays Without AIDS” campaign, an awareness initiative aimed at educating nearly nine million young people about the risks associated with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, malaria and tuberculosis.

Launched on Wednesday in Yaoundé, the month-long campaign has mobilized 900 peer educators deployed across the country’s ten regions. Their mission is to conduct community outreach activities to promote preventive behaviour and encourage disease screening.

Initiated in 2003 by First Lady Chantal Biya, the campaign aims to carry out at least 40,000 screening tests this year for these diseases. Speaking at the launch, Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education Mounouna Foutsou urged young people to play an active role in the prevention and fight against these illnesses.

The previous edition of the campaign reached more than 4.8 million young people. According to Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health, 26,094 people were tested for HIV in 2025, with 189 positive cases, representing a positivity rate of 0.7%.

This year’s edition seeks to further strengthen prevention efforts, particularly among young people during the school holiday period.

Source: Africa News