The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), known as the Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG) in German or Office Fédéral de la Santé Publique (OPFSP) in French, is a key governmental agency in Switzerland dedicated to safeguarding and promoting public health. Operating under the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), the FOPH is responsible for a wide array of public health activities, including health policy development, disease prevention, and health promotion.
The FOPH has many different tasks of which :
- Maintenance and development of social health and accident insurance
- Monitoring contagious diseases
- National programmes, e.g. for combating addictive behaviour (tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs) or dealing with HIV/AIDS
- Adopting and monitoring legal provisions in the area of consumer protection (such as for food, chemicals, medicines, cosmetic products and consumer goods)
- Adopting legal regulations for the education and training of health professionals
Regarding price setting mechanisams, there are at FOPH different procedures and responsibilities for different sectors (service providers and services, equipment and appliances, analyses, packaged medicines, extemporaneous preparations). The assessment processes are focused on new products and procedures and with regard to the criteria of efficacy, suitability and cost-effectiveness are most intensively elaborated for the pharmaceutical sector and the activity of the Federal Medicines Commission (EAK).
