A total of 1,754 young Cameroonians have been tested positive in a recent anti-AIDS operation, local media reported on Thursday.

The newly found seropositives account for 4.93 percent of the 35,780 young Cameroonians receiving the test during the 2009 edition of the operation "holidays without AIDS".

The health drive was launched by a pan-African NGO called the African synergies against AIDS and suffering, which is led by the first lady of Cameroon, Chantal Biya.

The peer educators also popularized the anti-AIDS knowledge to 400,000 young people and distributed more than 400,000 condoms.

The Cameroonian minister for youth affairs, Adoum Garoua, urged the 500 peer educators, who were mostly young people mobilized for the operation to continue the work their schools and colleges.

"Holidays without AIDS" is an initiative with an objective of sensitizing and reducing the risk of contamination of HIV/AIDS among the youth during the holiday period. Operational since 2003, it is carried out by African synergies with the backing of the World Health Organization and UNESCO.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2009)