Institute Profile

The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is a health care establishment for basic preventive disciplines – hygiene, epidemiology, microbiology, and occupational medicine.  Its main tasks are health promotion and protection, disease prevention, and follow-up of environmental impact on the health status of the population.  The main activities of NIPH are:

• Science and research
• Rreference and methodologic advice
• Expert opinions on health safety of various products (e.g., cosmetics, food supplements, items of daily use)
• Environmental monitoring 
• Preparation of legislation in the field of health protection, including ensuring Czech legislation is in line with the norms of the European Union.

In the field of health promotion and disease prevention, NIPH concentrates on the most important health problems – epidemiologic surveillance of severe infections (AIDS, hepatitis, newly emerging and reemerging infections) and promotion of a healthy lifestyle (prevention of cardiovascular diseases, healthy nutrition, and drug abuse prevention).  The Institute also plays an active role in pre- and post-graduate training of physicians and other healthcare workers and provides consultations to professionals working in the field.

Some of NIPH's past accomplishments include:

• Creation of an action plan for health and environment in the Czech Republic
• Development of a national program for prevention of AIDS
• Coordination of an iodine deficiency prevention program
• Development of external quality assessment and inter-laboratory test comparison programs