IANPHI Secretariat Hosted by the Robert Koch Institute, Germany
In 2025, the secretariat of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) moved to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, Germany. Since 2016, it has been hosted by the French public health agency, Santé Publique France in Paris. Last year, the IANPHI Executive Board decided to issue a call for tenders to gauge the interest of other member institutions in taking over this core task for IANPHI. The RKI responded to the call, and on December 10, 2024, the IANPHI General Assembly, the association's highest decision-making body, approved the relocation of the secretariat to RKI.
Founded in 2006, IANPHI currently has 128 member institutions in 107 countries. For Germany, the Robert Koch Institute and the Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit (formerly the Federal Centre for Health Education) are members. IANPHI's primary mission is to strengthen the creation and development of National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) and their global collaboration for the protection of global health. The IANPHI Secretariat plays a key role in supporting and facilitating collaboration among members in various structures. IANPHI currently has four regional networks: Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America/Caribbean; thematic committees (Climate and Public Health; Pandemic Preparedness, Response and Recovery; Public Health Professional Development; Social and Health Inequalities; and Essential Public Health Functions); and a global network of IANPHI Focal Points in member institutions. In addition, over the past nearly 20 years, IANPHI has developed and continuously revised a wide range of tools and resources to support NPHIs and their collaboration.
IANPHI works closely with partner organizations, with WHO playing a prominent role. At the World Health Summit in Berlin in 2022, the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding emphasizing the strengthening of public health functions and health security as common goals. Furthermore, IANPHI is increasingly participating in international conferences and high-level political meetings, such as the recent G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
The essential role of national public health institutes in health protection and health security is undisputed, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. IANPHI provides a well-established and unique infrastructure for their collaboration. As a founding and long-standing active member of IANPHI, the RKI, in hosting the IANPHI Secretariat, will take on the task of continuing to make this infrastructure and cooperation available to all member institutions and of further expanding it.