Taking health to heart

As part of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) is responsible for public health in Switzerland; it develops Switzerland’s health policy and works to ensure that the country has an efficient and affordable healthcare system in the long term. Find out everything you need to know about our tasks and the objectives of our work here.  

Our tasks

We provide competence in healthcare, promote a healthy lifestyle and work for the general well-being of the public. We are responsible for ensuring that our healthcare system remains efficient and affordable.

The most important requirements regarding health are set out in the Federal Constitution. We are responsible for more than twenty laws and numerous ordinances that are based on these standards. The range of our tasks is correspondingly broad: We are responsible for social health and accident insurance, regulations for chemicals, medicines, legislation in the areas of biosafety, research on humans and transplantation medicine, health promotion, national programs combating addiction and sexually transmitted diseases, radiation protection, and the regulation of university medical and health professionals. Furthermore, we represent the interests of Switzerland in health matters in international organisations and towards other countries.

Our goals

The people in our country should be able to deal competently and responsibly with their health, and our healthcare system should continue to provide high quality care and be affordable and accessible to all.

We face considerable challenges: the number of older and chronically ill people and non-communicable diseases is increasing. In addition to a lack of qualified personnel, costs are being pushed up by demographic trends and advances in medical technology, and the healthcare system is not sufficiently transparent. The healthcare system also has a great deal to catch up on in terms of digitisation.

To cope with these challenges in a sustainable manner, the Federal Council has been pushing ahead with more than 36 measures following the adoption of the ‘Health2020’ strategy in 2013. These are aimed at improving the quality of life of the people in our country, increasing equality of opportunity and optimising transparency and the quality of care. The Health 2030 strategy is building on these measures. The Federal Council wishes to further improve the healthcare system and thus enable all people in Switzerland to receive good and affordable medical care.

The FOPH will play a major role in implementing this. Our aim is to prepare Switzerland’s healthcare system optimally for the future.

Activity reports

The FOPH publishes activity reports on various topics, for example on radiation protection and the National Programme for HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections. You can find the reports here.

Directorates and Divisions of the FOPH

Last modification 07.02.2022