It is essential for RIVM to connect to subjects and issues that are important in today’s society. Staying connected and relevant is the only way for us to do a good job and to be a knowledge institute that has solid roots in society. We monitor which subjects are mentioned online and on social media in conjunction with RIVM. We also monitor the performance of our corporate website www.rivm.nl.
Over the past year, the number of unique visitors to RIVM’s website has remained more or less the same as in 2016 (-1%). The number of page views showed a slight increase (+ 3%). However, the English RIVM website had a marked increase in the number of unique visitors by almost 25% and the number of page views has increased by almost 15%. The number of followers of RIVM on social media has clearly increased, ranging from more than a quarter for LinkedIn up to 150% for Instagram.
Most popular topics RIVM 2017
The most visited topic on www.rivm.nl in 2017 was hepatitis with 161,484 page views for the types a, b and c together. The screening programs for colorectal cancer and cervical cancer then follow each with around 130,000 page views. Places 4 to 9 are for infectious diseases of which the topic Lyme disease has been most viewed. Population screening for breast cancer is number 10 on the most popular topics list.
Most discussed topics RIVM 2017
The most discussed topics in 2017 were the effects of eating meat on health and on sustainability and Down's syndrome, followed by three topics regarding the environmental impact on health: synthetic turf fields (rubber granulate), the National Heat Plan and smog.
Questions asked by the public 2017
In 2017, RIVM received more than 7000 questions from the public. This represents an increase of about 8% compared to 2016 (6578). The total number of questions about infectious diseases has decreased slightly (3%). In particular, the number of questions about infectious diseases in general has fallen (1527 in 2016); however, the number of questions about the National Vaccination Programme has increased (848 in 2016). Regarding public health and health services, these questions increased by 18% in 2017 (1789 questions in 2016). This increase was primarily the result of questions regarding population screening programmes and the flu vaccination (998 and 39 in 2016 respectively). Compared to 2016, the number of questions regarding the environment and safety increased by almost 25% (1087 and 1344 respectively).