To better understand the mechanisms underlying social inequalities in health, our role is to raise awareness and mobilize knowledge for public health advocacy in order to promote intersectoral responses that foster environments conducive to health and health equity. This also involves making indicators and levers for action available to frontline workers and decision-makers. Two particularly affected populations will be prioritized: young children and people who are disconnected from the healthcare system, through health mediation, knowledge mobilization, and health literacy.

More specifically, after identifying in 2023 the most relevant social indicators to include in our surveys (housing, background, and employment), a summary of these needs will be produced in 2024 regarding the collection and use of indicators on these determinants so that they can be systematically integrated into our studies. Particular attention will be paid to individuals excluded from the labor market, with an in-depth examination of their profiles and health status, based on the EDP-Health and the Public Health France Barometers.

Communication and social marketing initiatives will continue, taking into account the digital skills of the target audiences to ensure greater engagement among the most disadvantaged populations.

Mental health is a key determinant of a healthy population. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health disorders already represented a significant burden, and the health crisis has greatly exacerbated this issue, particularly among children and young people, with marked social inequalities and potential long-term effects. The immediate crisis necessitated enhanced monitoring and rapid responses in terms of prevention and support to prevent conditions such as reactive psychological distress from taking hold.

The implementation of a sustainable communication strategy on mental health (2023–2026), announced as the first measure of the Mental Health and Psychiatry Conference in September 2021, is now underway. An operational communication program has been developed for the period 2023–2027, structured around three pillars:

1. Preventing psychological distress, mental disorders, and associated risky behaviors.

2. Promoting mental health and psychological well-being.

3. Combating the stigmatization of people affected by mental disorders.

Among its priorities, Santé publique France aims to strengthen measures for the prevention and promotion of mental health, in particular:

• support for parenting and the development of psychosocial skills in children and adolescents;

• information and communication (promoting early identification and intervention, access to mental health resources, and the adoption of behaviors that support mental health).

Modern epidemiological surveillance must be based on information systems deployed across all regions, collecting high-quality data in real time to generate robust epidemiological indicators that enable the daily monitoring of significant events such as the emergence of new diseases or the health consequences of industrial accidents. This requires, in particular, the creation of new national information systems and access to data for health monitoring and surveillance purposes.

Furthermore, strengthening surveillance and monitoring systems will also require the continuation of an integrated surveillance approach for the prevention of winter epidemics such as influenza, RSV, and COVID-19, as well as fostering innovation and partnerships with the research community—such as with the Emergen Consortium, in close collaboration with the ANRS-Emerging Infectious Diseases unit—or the deployment of the Sum’eau wastewater surveillance system, in conjunction with ANSES.

As part of a comprehensive modernization strategy, the agency is committed to continuing its efforts to modernize its information systems in order to enhance its operational efficiency and its ability to respond to public health emergencies; this will be particularly evident in the development of a new information system for the public health reserve.

Providing accessible, relevant, and authoritative scientific information through its communication tools and by strengthening its open data strategy is also a key driver of the agency’s work, with the goal of better integrating population-based and geographic approaches and offering presentation formats tailored to all user profiles. This will notably result in 2024 in the deployment of a new open data platform, with the goal of increasing public engagement with the indicators produced by the agency.

The global changes already underway and those yet to come—whether related to climate, the environment, or society—require us to anticipate their effects on health, with the aim of mitigating their impacts and helping the population adapt to new risks.

It is crucial to cross-reference different data to better understand how exposure to various risks, such as environmental and occupational hazards, affects health. Santé publique France assesses these exposures to estimate their impact on public health, propose interventions to reduce them, and promote healthy environments in accordance with the “One Health” principle.

The agency’s objectives for 2024 are:

1. Characterize exposures and health impacts to contribute to prevention strategies at the European, national, or local levels, such as through the launch of the pilot phase of the Albane survey, in collaboration with ANSES, on diet, nutrition, health status, and biomonitoring.

2. Strengthen and modernize systems for monitoring, observing, and preventing risks related to the general and/or occupational environment, for example by continuing its work on the surveillance of musculoskeletal disorders based on the results of the Constance and Coset cohorts.

3. Develop strategies for advocacy and influence to promote health-promoting environments.