From 1 June 2022, the heel prick test for Dutch newborns will also screen for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a serious hereditary muscle condition. Detecting this disease at an early stage enables early treatment.

Immigrants are relatively less likely to take part in preventive screening programmes, such as cancer screening. This is partly due to the language barrier and a lack of knowledge, according to a doctoral thesis by Nora Hamdiui.

In 2020, the estimated costs of foodborne infections in the Netherlands were 140 million euros lower than in the preceding year. This corresponds to a 30% decrease.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the West Nile Virus in 2020 show that so-called emerging zoonoses pose a risk to the Netherlands.

Women aged 50 to 75 years on Bonaire can participate in the breast cancer screening programme again as of Wednesday, May 26, 2021. This was temporarily halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each year, at the request of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, RIVM prepares an overview of the most important zoonoses and indicates their prevalence in the Netherlands.

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the health care capacity in the Netherlands is expected to come under severe pressure in the coming period.

The focus of our annual report State of Zoonotic Diseases 2018 is prevention, with the emphasis on the production chains of foods of animal origin.

RIVM has derived temporary background values for two types of PFAS in Dutch soil: PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (perfluoro octanoic acid).

RIVM reports annually on the level of radioactivity that occurs under normal circumstances in the environment and food.