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Yellow Sunday Campaign

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As part of World AIDS Day events in 2008, Yellow Sunday was organised by Youth Development and Peace Network (YDPN), an organisation supported by the World Bank, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Cameroon. Along a 7-kilometer walk in the capital city Yaounde, 500 marchers, all wearing yellow t-shirts, distributed pins, brochures, and other information on HIV/AIDS. During the event, youth performed rap songs and slam poetry, and presented sketches and poems with messages related to prevention, testing, and inclusion.
Communication Strategies

The main focus of the awareness event was a street march through the city. According to the organisers, the march converged on May 20 Boulevard in downtown Yaounde, where participants were greeted by government officials from the ministries of: Higher Education; Secondary Education; Communication, Women, and Family Affairs; Youth; and Public Health.

As part of the event, children with mental and physical disabilities also performed, and an HIV-positive young woman held up a green bouquet as a symbol of hope. In addition, members of the public volunteered to take on-the-spot, free, and confidential HIV screenings. According to the organisation, students pledged to behave responsibly in order to prevent the spread of the virus. At the end of the event, an artist displayed a linen sheet featuring emotional words contributed by members of the audience.

The Yellow Sunday event was the second of its kind in Cameroon. In 2003 and 2004, 600 students from 50 schools toured the country as part of the "NO SIDA" caravan. The caravan included national rap music artist Kris Badd and the reigning Miss Cameroon. Companies, including cell phone multinational MTN, Radio Africa #1, Radio France International, MCM Africa, and others, participated.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS.

Key Points

The organisation reports that Cameroon has an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 5.1% among youth, with an overall rate 3.9%. According to the Ministry of Public Health's Professor Ondobo Andzé Gervais, 30% of Cameroons hospital beds are filled with HIV/AIDS patients.

For the 2008 event, YDPN partnered with the National Committee on HIV/AIDS, MTN, the local chapter of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and others as part of the YDPN's larger action plan, which to date has included the following activities to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS:

  • donations in kind and cash to 2 orphanages in Yaoundé and Mbalmayo;
  • distribution of magazines and flyers on the dangers of HIV and AIDS; and
  • participation in a mobile caravan for free and confidential HIV screening.
Partners

YDPN, National Committee on HIV/AIDS, MTN, UNAIDS, World Bank.

Sources

Email from Héléne Pieume to Soul Beat Africa on December 1 2008; and World Bank website on March 27 2009.

Teaser Image
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTCAMEROON/Images/Cameroon_Celebrates_Yellow_Sunday_in_Honor_of_World_AIDS_Day.JPG