With effect from 1 January, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has appointed Reinskje Talhout as special professor Product appeal and prevention of harmful consumption behaviour within the chair group Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour (SSEB).

Giving antibiotics to family members of a person who has a severe and possibly invasive Group A Strep infection (iGAS) helps prevent them from becoming ill as well. Since January 2023, all family members of a patient with iGAS are offered antibiotics. This policy has lowered the risk of transmission within families by more than 80%.

Professor Isabel Arends will become Director-General of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), an agency of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). The cabinet approved the nomination presented by Mr Rijkaart, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). Her appointment will start on 1 April 2026.

A healthy environment is one that is green and offers sufficient space for physical activity and social encounters. However, public space is limited in the Netherlands and its use is under pressure. This is why it is important for municipalities and provinces to be able to make healthy, science-based choices. RIVM has developed a few rules of thumb for this.

In 2023 and 2024, an increasing number of people in the Netherlands fell ill as a result of salmonella. This was reported by RIVM in its State of Infectious Diseases, an annual report that provides an overview of the most notable epidemiological developments in the field of infectious diseases.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Trimbos Institute are calling on the next government to invest broadly in mental health, focusing on prevention, identifying problems at an early stage, and applying an approach that addresses mental health across all policy areas. 

Since the end of the previous century, the government has ramped up the number of measures to reduce emissions of air pollutants. RIVM research has shown that the number of people who died after multiple days with elevated concentrations in the air of these pollutants dropped by around 25% between 1995 and 2019.

Some antifungal drugs, such as those working against Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida, are becoming less effective due to an increase in resistance. As a result, it is becoming more difficult to treat people with these fungal infections.

In the autumn round of 2025, a total of 2,253,476 COVID-19 vaccinations were registered by RIVM. Vaccination coverage for people over 60 is 41.7%. Vaccination coverage varies by age group and region.

RIVM has warned travellers to Cape Verde about a shigellosis risk. The bacterial infection causes severe bloody diarrhoea and fever. Eight Dutch travellers were diagnosed with shigellosis in September and October 2025. These people had been staying in resorts on the islands of Sal and Boa Vista.