Keeping people healthy

Who’s behind Health Promo­tion Switzerland?

Health Promo­tion Switz­er­land is a foun­da­tion crea­ted at the initia­tive of the cantons and the FOPH and supported by the cantons and insu­r­ers. From a legal perspec­tive, we’re a foun­da­tion with a statu­tory mandate under the Fede­ral Health Insu­rance Act (KVG). The Fede­ral Depart­ment of Home Affairs (FDHA) deter­mi­nes the contri­bu­tion, i.e. how much each insu­red person has to pay via their health insu­rance premium, based on an ordi­nance pursu­ant to Article 20 KVG. In speci­fic terms, this ‘preven­tion contri­bu­tion’, as it is known, amounts to CHF 4.80 per person, per year, or 40 centi­mes per person, per month.

How much auto­nomy do you have when deve­lo­ping your strategy? 

The Board of Trus­tees is our over­ar­ching decis­ion-making body. It also deter­mi­nes the stra­te­gic frame­work condi­ti­ons, which are based on the Natio­nal Stra­tegy for the Preven­tion of Non-commu­ni­ca­ble Dise­a­ses (NCD Stra­tegy). This is an umbrella stra­tegy in the area of health promo­tion and preven­tion that’s drawn up by the cantons, the Confe­de­ra­tion and the foundation. 

Who deter­mi­nes this strategy?

The foundation’s own stra­tegy is appro­ved by the Board of Trus­tees. The NCD Stra­tegy is commis­sio­ned by the Fede­ral Coun­cil and the Dialog Natio­nale Gesund­heits­po­li­tik, the joint plat­form of the Confe­de­ra­tion and the cantons for issues rela­ted to health policy. The Fede­ral Office of Public Health (FOPH), the Swiss Confe­rence of Canto­nal Direc­tors of Health (GDK) and the Health Promo­tion Switz­er­land foun­da­tion (GFCH) decide how to put it into prac­tice. How our work is percei­ved and evalua­ted by stake­hol­ders (from poli­tics, busi­ness and public autho­ri­ties, for exam­ple) also guides the direc­tion that our services take.

In the area of demen­tia, too, we actively promote preven­tive health­care by provi­ding targe­ted finan­cial aid and profes­sio­nal support for projects.

Chloé Saas

This is where you come in. What’s your role?

We’re a natio­nal centre of excel­lence that’s manda­ted by law to initiate, coor­di­nate and evaluate measu­res to promote health and prevent dise­ase. We want to inform, empower and moti­vate people to lead a healthy life­style. In addi­tion, we strive to create social condi­ti­ons that support this process. In doing so, we focus on health rather than dise­ase: from this perspec­tive, it’s not only important to know what makes people ill, but also what keeps them healthy, despite the risks and pres­su­res they’re expo­sed to.

The NCD Strategy’s 2025–2028 plan of action now includes preven­ting demen­tia and promo­ting mental health. What does this mean for you?

The promo­tion of mental health has become one of the foundation’s stra­te­gic areas of focus in recent years. We support two mental health campaigns in speci­fic language regi­ons, namely ‘Wie geht’s Dir?’ and ‘SantéPsy.ch’, for exam­ple. Both campaigns are backed by all 26 cantons. In the area of demen­tia, too, we actively promote preven­tive health­care by provi­ding targe­ted finan­cial aid and profes­sio­nal support for projects. By exten­sion, we’ve tapped into important new pillars in recent years.

How do you prio­ri­tise issues rela­ting to mental health?

Our stra­tegy deter­mi­nes what direc­tion we take. We also draw on various inter­nal and exter­nal sources such as the Swiss Health Survey, Obsan’s analy­ses, our own moni­to­ring – inclu­ding the Job Stress Index and Ressour­cen Psychi­sche Gesund­heit (Mental Health Resour­ces) – and inter­na­tio­nal studies, to name just a few. Direct commu­ni­ca­tion with our stake­hol­ders is also important. The diverse array of findings shows us where we need to take action.

How are you closing the gap? 

This is achie­ved via project funding, for instance. We support inno­va­tive approa­ches rela­ting to preven­tive health­care and canto­nal action program­mes. This allows gaps that have been iden­ti­fied through evalua­tions and moni­to­ring to be closed in a targe­ted manner – be it thema­ti­cally, for exam­ple in rela­tion to mental health, or for speci­fic target groups such as child­ren and young people. 

Where do you see an urgent need for action?

We need to keep an eye on young people’s mental health; this is one of our focus areas. Studies show that young people are suffe­ring from incre­asing levels of stress and their well-being is dete­rio­ra­ting. The first step was to shine a light on the issue and talk about it openly. This led to the crea­tion of the  ‘Wie geht es dir?’ and ‘SantéPsy.ch’ campaigns in two speci­fic language regi­ons, which raise aware­ness of the issue of mental health, promote open dialo­gue about emoti­ons and offer prac­ti­cal tips and support to boost mental well-being. The compon­ents of the campaign range from flyers, posters and confe­ren­ces to adverts in buses, cine­mas and apps. Targe­ted trai­ning is offe­red on a topic-speci­fic basis for groups such as teachers, who in turn pass on what they have lear­ned to parents and children. 

What role do the cantons play in this?

They play a crucial role: they are respon­si­ble for health­care, preven­tion and health promo­tion in their canton and colla­bo­rate with us to imple­ment canto­nal action program­mes. The canto­nal action program­mes are based on frame­works that have been tried and tested throug­hout Switz­er­land, but leave suffi­ci­ent scope for canton-speci­fic needs and key regio­nal quirks.

You provide funding and coor­di­nate the various efforts. What else?

In accordance with our legal mandate, we also initiate and evaluate steps to promote health. In terms of initia­ting these measu­res, we focus on acti­vi­ties in the three areas of inter­ven­tion: canto­nal action programs for the popu­la­tion in speci­fic cantons, occu­pa­tio­nal health manage­ment at compa­nies across all sectors, and preven­tion within health­care provi­sion, for exam­ple in doctors’ surge­ries, hospi­tals and phar­macies. Evalua­tion entails revie­w­ing our measu­res. We imple­ment rese­arch contracts, evalua­tion and moni­to­ring projects in order to do so.

Do you also work directly with the private sector? 

Yes, a great deal. We colla­bo­ra­ted with experts from busi­ness, acade­mia and govern­ment insti­tu­ti­ons to deve­lop occu­pa­tio­nal health manage­ment (OHM) services with a focus on mental health. This led to the crea­tion of the ‘Friendly Work Space’ label, amongst other things, enab­ling us to support orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and compa­nies with estab­li­shing syste­ma­tic OHM. 

How did the label come about?

It’s important to us that we under­stand compa­nies’ needs – the needs of mana­gers and employees alike. We’ve noti­ced that aware­ness of mental health in the work­place is incre­asing. One in two new disa­bi­lity pensi­ons is due to mental health issues, espe­ci­ally amongst young people. We’re also support­ing the estab­lish­ment, deve­lo­p­ment and coor­di­na­tion of regio­nal OHM forums. These help compa­nies to successfully roll out their occu­pa­tio­nal health manage­ment stra­te­gies and carry out important educa­tio­nal and coor­di­na­tion work in their regi­ons. The foundation’s OHM offe­rings are deve­lo­ped and conti­nuously enhan­ced in colla­bo­ra­tion with experts from indus­try and acade­mia. This is where we make a targe­ted commit­ment to employees’ mental health – because their well-being is key to a company’s success. 

How is your Board of Trus­tees structured?

The Board of Trus­tees is made up of repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of various insti­tu­ti­ons, inclu­ding the cantons, the Swiss Confe­de­ra­tion (FOPH), insu­rance compa­nies and part­ner orga­ni­sa­ti­ons such as the Lungenliga. 

If you could make one wish for the Confe­de­ra­tion and the cantons: what change would enable Health Promo­tion Switz­er­land to work even more effec­tively? 

We need all our stake­hol­ders to ensure success. It’s parti­cu­larly important that we reach vulnerable groups: this is a major chall­enge. As many stake­hol­ders as possi­ble need to take action to address health inequa­li­ties if we want to reach vulnerable popu­la­ti­ons. We’ve iden­ti­fied certain gaps in the offe­rings and deve­lo­ped action plans tail­o­red to speci­fic target groups, invol­ving the rele­vant part­ner orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. In turn, we’ve alre­ady helped to break the taboo surroun­ding mental health. By view­ing mental health as part of gene­ral health, we’re incre­asingly seeing a preven­tive and destig­ma­ti­zed approach. This allows us and other stake­hol­ders in the health promo­tion space to high­light time and again where action needs to be taken – for exam­ple, where mental health condi­ti­ons need to be crea­ted within struc­tures and settings.