Budget cuts will affect Swiss preventive health campaigns

Cost-cutting measures: the FOPH must relinquish various tasks Keystone-SDA

The cost-cutting measures will include scaling back the 'Love Life' campaign that raises awareness of sexually transmitted diseases.

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) will be reducing or abandoning some of its tasks from next year. This decision is the result of cost-cutting measures decided by the government and parliament, FOPH announced on Wednesday.

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In total, these savings will amount to CHF11 million a year from 2026. “They will affect various units of the FOPH that have until now made an essential contribution to strengthening public health,” says the press release.

In particular, the FOPH will have to scale back the implementation of various national strategies: healthcare-associated infection control, vaccination and sexually transmitted diseases, including the Love Life campaign.

FOPH tasks scheduled to be cut include prevention in the workplace, prevention in healthcare and health equity. As a result of these measures, 19.5 full-time equivalent positions will be eliminated. “In some cases, redundancies will be unavoidable,” writes the FOPH.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

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