RIVM’s temporary working organisation group Prevention Programmes and Public Health Upscaling is working on a new domain with the aim of organising prevention programmes in such a way that they are fit for purpose and recognisable for the public. The domain will be comprised of the Department for Vaccine Supply and Prevention Programmes, the Centre for Population Screening and the National Functionality for Upscaling Infectious Disease Control. The primary task of this new RIVM domain will be to direct and coordinate population screening programmes, screenings, vaccination programmes and upscaling during large-scale infectious disease outbreaks.

RIVM uses data from the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in many studies. LCA data on the environmental impact of food products is often used in combination with data from the Food Consumption Survey (VCP) and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands (EPIC-NL) study. Below is a brief summary of the most recent studies.

After a big fire on 5 November 2024 on one of the landfill sites on the Caribbean Netherlands island Bonaire, the lieutenant governor requested RIVM’s Environmental Incident Service (MOD) assistance. The specific task of the MOD was to sample soil, dust, and vegetation to get more insight into hazardous substances that may have been deposited in the environment after this recent fire

What is the environmental impact of food products during their entire life cycle? It is essential to learn more about this if we are to achieve a sustainable food system. To that end, RIVM publishes data on the environmental impact of food products in the LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) database. You can find the LCA database (plus an explanation) at the bottom of this page.

In the third quarter of 2024, more young people (0–24 years) contacted the GP because of suicide-related thoughts and attempts than previously measured. At the same time, the percentage of young people in the survey who reported having suicidal thoughts remained the same in September 2024 compared to 3 and 6 months earlier. Also, the average mental health of young people was stable, and fewer were suffering from physical symptoms. These findings are from the thirteenth quarterly survey. The results of this study are part of Health Research for COVID-19.

A lot of RIVM’s efforts can be classified as some form of research, the vast majority of which is carried out in response to specific requests from our main commissioning bodies such as national government ministries. However, the institute also has a dedicated internal budget that it can invest in work that is expected to generate new knowledge of strategic relevance: the Strategic Programme RIVM (SPR).