Swiss government targets young adults with new sexual health campaign

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health has launched a new Love Life campaign for people aged 16 to 26, focusing on safer sex and sexual health. The campaign was presented to the media in Bern on Friday, SRF reported.

It is part of the national programme to stop HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections and other sexually transmitted infections. Approved by the Federal Council in November 2023, the programme aims to prevent new transmissions of HIV and hepatitis B and C by 2030 and reduce the number of other sexually transmitted infections.

About 90,000 young people begin having sexual experiences each year, but many still lack sufficient information about protection, Federal Office of Public Health director Anne Lévy said. The campaign will use video podcasts and short videos on social media to provide information and encourage dialogue. It is intended to complement sex education in schools.

The campaign includes a safer-sex check on the Love Life website. It covers protective measures such as condom use, assessing risks and considering testing to help prevent further transmission.

Switzerland still records between 350 and 390 new HIV infections each year, said Parham Sendi, head of the office’s communicable diseases division. HIV is no longer a death sentence, Lévy said, but it requires lifelong treatment that can be costly.

Hepatitis B and C infections were described as stable or tending to decline, as were syphilis cases. The office received reports of 1,165 syphilis cases in 2025. Reported cases of chlamydia and gonorrhoea have risen since the Covid pandemic: there were 12,707 chlamydia reports and 6,894 gonorrhoea reports in 2025. Sendi said the increase could partly reflect more testing.

The Federal Office of Public Health developed the campaign with AIDS Hilfe Schweiz and the youth network Sexual Health Switzerland. The agency Zeam, co-founded by Yaël Meier, is responsible for its implementation.