THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NIPH

On October 12, 1925, the parliamentary assembly passed a law pertaining to the organisation, scope and foundation of the National Institute of Public Health of the Czechoslovak Republic. On October 23, this law was officially signed by the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, T. G. Masaryk. The NIPH was ceremonially opened on November 5, 1925. Its first director was Prof. Pavel Kucera, MD.

During the time of the first Republic, the NIPH became an eminent scientific institution. Its activities included manufacture of sera and vaccines, wide-ranging scientific activity, participation in bacteriological diagnostic and pharmaceutical research. Another important part of the institute was a public health department concerned with medical statistics, the epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases, nutritional hygiene, occupational health, living conditions etc., department of health education, department for analysis of foodstuffs etc. After the death of Prof. Kucera, the new director of the NIPH became Doc. Bohumil Vacek, MD (1928 – 1937). At the start of 1938, Prof. Hynek Pelc was appointed as director.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE DURING THE WAR

On 14.3.1939 the National Institute of Public Health in Prague stopped being an institution of the Czechoslovak Republic. Slovakia had formed its own health institute, although it did not manufacture sera and vaccines. The institute in Prague came under the control of German medical authorities following the occupation of Bohemia in 1939. Prof. Pelc was relieved of his directorial post towards the end of 1940. At the start of 1941, a professor from the German institute of public health, Dr Pesch, was appointed as head; he died in May of the same year. His place was taken by another German national, Doc. Schubert, who had until then been the head of the department for pharmaceutical research. In 1942, a veterinary department was set up containing laboratories for analysis of meat and milk. The following year was one of increased production of sera; the German army was supplied with diphtheria sera and the Behring Company received sera against anthrax. The huge increase in sera production, however, proved to be of little use to the German army. The supplies of tetanus and gangrene sera were used during the May uprising in 1945.

The first post-war director of the NIPH was Prof. Vilem Hons, MD.

REORGANISATION

In 1949 the NIPH was reorganised under law no. 70/1949 and renamed as the National Health Institute. Its headquarters remained in Prague, with a regional institute for Slovakia in Bratislava and branches in other major cities.

The institute was divided into five departments. Each department had a chief who independently led his section and directly answered to the Ministry of Health. The head of the administrative and economics department was answerable to the director of the institute.

The director of the National Health Institute in Prague and head of department II for research into nutrition and foodstuffs was Prof. Vilem Hons, MD. The head of department I for environmental research was Prof. Milos Kredba, MD, department III for microbiology and epidemiology was lead by Doc. Karel Raska, MD, department IV for pharmaceutical research was lead by Prof. Eduard Skarnitzl, PhD and the head of department V for health education and training was Dr M. K. Fugnerova.

In 1949 the department for manufacture of sera and vaccines became independent of the institute and continued its activities as the National Manufacturer of Sera, later called Biogena and Sevac.

From 1949 onwards branches of the institute were set up in regional towns, up to a total of 25.

In 1952, an edict by the ministry of health (no. 30, dated 17.1.1952 and active from 1.1.1952) transferred control of these branches to local national committees as hygiene and epidemiological posts; a further edict on 4.6. disestablished the National Health Institute (valid from 1.5.1952). This same step included the establishment of the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Institute of Hygiene and the National Institute for Research and Control of Drugs. A fourth institute was added in 1962, the Institute of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, based in a new building on the grounds of the defunct National Institute of Health.

On 1.1.1953, the department of veterinary hygiene was placed under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture. The ministry of Health decreed on 8.9.1952 (edict no. 243/1393/52) the establishment of independent institutes for medical training and public health organisation: these were not based on the grounds of the former NIH.The independent institutes existed until 1971 when they were joined under the heading of a single organisation, the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (IHE). Prof. Frantisek Janda, MD, became its new director. In 1980 he was replaced by academic Bohumir Rosicky.

THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE NIPH

After 1989 the institute went through a number of changes that reflected new trends in both society and preventive medicine. In January 1990, Prof. Bohumil Tichacek, DrSc, was selected to head what was still at that point the IHE. He is responsible for returning to the traditions, original title and democratic leadership of the institute. On 1.1.1992 the institute was reinstated as a centralised institution with a nationwide sphere of influence and a mission to protect and promote public health, engage in prevention of disease and monitor the impact of the environment on population health. Apart from the main centres and departments, the NIPH contained seven WHO collaborating centres and 51 national reference centres and laboratories during 1992 – 1994. The institute became the headquarters of the system for monitoring the impact of environment on population health. It was also closely engaged in educational activities at the 3^rd Medical Faculty of Charles University and post-graduate education in preventive medicine. Doc. Jaroslav Kriz became the director of the NIPH on 1.5.1994.

During the 1990s', the NIPH successfully revived the tradition of scientific research, coping with over 100 research projects (financed from both home and abroad), increased the output of published work by its specialists and incepted a project aimed at analysis of infectious, environmental and behavioural health hazards and their prevention. A new activity is health education, organised by the institute since 1996 after the abolishment of the National Health Promotion Centre. The NIPH managed the National Health Promotion Programme and prepared a national variant of the WHO 'Health for All' project. Specialists at the institute played a large role in preparing legislation concerned with  health  protection,  which  is now  EU  compatible. The Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology has begun preparing for the activities associated with the "Verification protocol for the treaty on the disposal of and ban on development, manufacture and storage of bacteriological and chemical weapons".

The NIPH played an important role in other nationwide preventive programmes, for instance the Action plan for health and environment in the Czech Republic, The national programme for prevention of AIDS and coordination of the prevention of iodine deficit. The institute has been actively engaged in pre- and post-graduate education and has provided a great deal of consultation assistance to field researchers. It has prompted the development of new projects such as the programme for external quality assessment and inter-laboratory test comparisons. Specialist from the NIPH have widely contributed to the preparations for entry into the EU by unifying regulations and have successfully promoted Czech norms abroad, for instance in the health-safety of toys.

At the start of 2001, Doc. J. Kriz asked be relieved of his post as director and was succeeded on 1.7.2001 by the Chief Public Health Officer of the Czech Republic, Dr Michael Vit, PhD.

At the end of the same year, the Centre for Healthcare Quality was established at the NIPH on the request of the Minister of Health Prof. B. Fisher. This centre is engaged in evaluating the quality of healthcare in preventive and clinical medicine.

Dr Jaroslav Volf, PhD was named head of the institute on 1.1.2003. Simultaneously, as stipulated by par. 86 of law no. 258/2000, in the wording of law no. 320/2002, the National Institute of Public Health has been designated a contributory organisation.