Centre for Public Health Promotion

Head of the centre: MUDr. Marie Nejedlá

Contact centre manager: 267 082 693, e-mail: marie.nejedla@szu.cz

Secretariat: 267 082 607, e-mail: cpvz@szu.cz

The Centre for Public Health Promotion (CPVZ) aims to increase the health literacy of the public, support decision-making in favour of health and a healthy lifestyle and promote the healthy years of the population’s life-span through the primary prevention of diseases.

CPVZ is one of the six centres of the National Institute of Public Health, part of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic.

We process data obtained from scientific studies into understandable language and present them in a practical way, so that they can be used in everyday life.

The centre participates in a wide range of activities in the promotion of public health.

These mainly include:

• education in the area of health ​​risk and protective factors for promotion of health
• educational programmes
• scientific research activities that are part of national research programmes
• support in reduction of health risks from the living and occupational environment
• updates on the occurrence of chronic non-infectious diseases
• reducing inequalities in health
• promotion of appropriate nutrition for children (long-term breastfeeding)
• monitoring of long-term trends in physical growth of children and adolescents
• distribution and updating of health vaccination cards
• coordination and guarantor of the School Health Promotion Programme

We are dedicated to:

1. healthy nutrition throughout life, including school meals
2. physical activity as a natural part of a daily routine
3. mental health care, including situations that may occur in schools
4. prevention of addiction to addictive substances (legal and illegal)
5. prevention of sexually transmitted diseases
6. drawing attention to the risks of accidents on roads and in households

The centre consists of four departments – National HIV/AIDS Manager, Health Support Department, Health Determinants Department, Child and the Adolescent Wellbeing Department. CPVZ also leads the National Reference Centre for Health and Disease Prevention Programs.

The activity of the NRC in the CPVZ is legislatively based:

Act No. 258/2000 Coll., on the protection of public health and on the amendment of some related laws, as amended.

The National Institute of Public Health is the coordinator and guarantor of the programme School Support of Health in the Czech Republic. The programme unites schools where health does not only represent the absence of disease, but perceives it as the result of interacting bio-psycho-social factors, the so-called holistic concept of health, which corresponds to the concept conceived by WHO. Schools try to work with these factors by respecting the natural needs of the individual, by supporting communication, cooperation, emphasising responsibility for one’s own health and developing the life skills of all members of a school community.