The Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) is a public and technical agency legally created in 1999 to reinforce public health and epidemiological surveillance in France. It focuses on epidemiological surveillance and risk assessment and contributes to the training of public health professionals and to the interface between research and field epidemiology. Current areas of activity include: infectious diseases (AIDS, viral hepatitis, vaccination preventable diseases, food-borne diseases, CJD, etc.), environmental health (risks related to air pollution, exposures to chemical products, ionising radiation, water pollution, biomonitoring, pesticides, climate, etc.), occupational risks (health risks related to asbestos exposure, etc.), and chronic diseases (surveillance of cancer, cardiovascular and nutritional health problems, etc.). It is participating in several EU programmes (APHEIS, EPIET, EuroTB, EuroHIV, Eurosurveillance, ENHIS, PINCHE, SCALE, etc.), and the Information Systems and Communications. The Institute is also involved in public health actions (assistance to outbreak investigations, setting up surveillance systems) with its European counterparts (CDSC, RIVM, Robert Koch Institute, Instituto di Sanita, Instituto Carlos III), with the European Commission, with the World Health Organisation (programmes of expertise and support in developing countries) and in bilateral agreements with foreign counterparts (USA, Canada, Southern Pacific, Mediterranean countries). The annual budget for 2005 is €48 million, with a staff of 255 persons. The majority of the scientific personnel are epidemiologists.
Martine Ledrans, MSc, is the head of the Department of Environmental Health (DSE) and an environmental epidemiology expert. She will coordinate the management of InVS contribution to INTARESE.
Daniel Eilstein, MD, PhD is the head of the Monitoring and Surveillance unit at the DSE and a health surveillance expert. He is the leader of WP2.3 (Health Surveillance) in INTARESE and will contribute to the management of InVS contribution to the project.
Sylvia Medina, MD, PhD is the coordinator of European Programmes at the DSE, and a health impact assessment expert. She will coordinate the scientific contribution of DSE to INTARESE and will contribute to the management of InVS contribution to INTARESE.
InVS will coordinate WP2.3 on health surveillance (Daniel Eilstein) and will participate as a partner in other WPs: WP1.3 (Exposure-health effect), WP1.4 (Risk characterisation) , WP1.5 (Cross-cutting issues), WP2.1 (Environmental monitoring), WP2.2 (Biomonitoring), WP2.4 (Integrated monitoring), WP3.1 (Transport), WP3.3 (Agricultural land use), WP3.7 (Climate), WP5.2 (Internal training) and WP6.1 (User consultation).
