PRESS RELEASE

12 December 2022

COMMUNICATION TO THE

SENATE SOCIAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

FRENCH PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY: EXTENDED MISSIONS, A

STRATEGY TO BE BETTER DEFINED

Inspired by the British model when it was created in 2016, the French Public Health Agency (Santé

Publique France - SPF) is an agency under the Ministry of Health.

It was created from the merger of

four organisations to improve the coherence and efficiency of public policies in the fields of

epidemiological observation, health monitoring, preparation and response to health emergencies

and crises, prevention and health promotion. In its report responding to a request from the Senate

Social Affairs Committee, the Court of Accounts examined the way in which the agency has carried

out its missions since 2016, the strategy it has implemented in conjunction with the Ministry of

Health and its administrative management. While SPF was a key player in the fight against the Covid-

19 pandemic, in particular in the management of strategic stocks, the Court identified weaknesses

in its management and positioning and makes recommendations to address these.

A

continuum

of missions being consolidated

Between 2016 and 2019, SPF has started to strengthen the links between its missions, at the

cost of lengthy internal reorganisations and a reconciliation of IT systems. However, the

expected synergies had not yet been fully realised by the time the Covid pandemic hit in early

2020. The health crisis has changed the conditions under which these missions are carried out.

The agency was able to demonstrate responsiveness and flexibility in its organisation to meet

the urgent needs of the crisis management. The strategic stocks, which SPF builds up at the

request of the State, have completely changed dimension, with in particular a significant

accumulation of personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, overcoats). It is up to the

Ministry of Health to decide on the desirable level of these stocks and on the amount of funding

that corresponds to them. The crisis highlighted weaknesses in surveillance systems which have

been at least partially remedied with the implementation of a tool such as SIDEP and the

conduct of current projects aimed in particular at better identification of viruses and their

variants. While fields such as mental health were poorly covered before 2020, actions in the

field of prevention and health promotion have been consolidated and diversified, thanks to a

continuous increase in budgetary appropriations dedicated to this policy. Lastly, the health

reserve, which allows health professionals to be mobilised to make up for certain shortcomings

in the health care system, has been overtaken by the scale of the health crisis and must be

rethought from an interministerial perspective and according to a renewed employment

framework.