Czech Republic

The National Institute of Public Health (SZU)

The National Institute of Public Health is a leading national agency for research, development, reference, and methodological activities in the domain of public health protection and promotion which is directly managed by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. The Institute was inaugurated on 5 November 1925.

Mission

The mission of the Institute is to ensure a spectrum of activities covering the development of bases for the national public health policy, reference and methodological work, health promotion and protection, systematic monitoring of the environmental impact on population health in the Czech Republic. In the field of health promotion and disease prevention, SZU focuses on the most important health problems – epidemiological surveillance of severe infections and promoting a healthy lifestyle of the population (prevention of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, healthy nutrition, drug abuse prevention). Integral parts of SZU activities are international collaboration, participation in professional medical education and health-related education of the general public.

Main tasks

The main tasks of SZU comprise:

  • To prepare background information for national public health policy making and health protection and promotion
  • To provide methodological and reference support in the field of public health protection
  • To monitor and to study relationships between environmental conditions and health
  • To participate in international cooperation (among others with EU institutions, OECD, WHO, etc.)
  • To assure quality control of services provided in public health protection
  • To provide postgraduate education in the medical disciplines of health protection and promotion and to promote community public health awareness
  • To process data on population health relevant to the prevention of infectious diseases, occupational health risks, environmental pollutants and the epidemiology of drug addiction

 

In the area of health promotion and communication towards general public SZU is involved in:

  • standardization of procedures and methodology in public health and health education
  • developing intervention strategies in health promotion
  • organization and methodical support of regional public health promotion

    More information

www.szu.cz

Participating countries