News
05.02.2026 – Changes in the Editorial Board of the Hygiena journal
At the meeting of the Editorial Board of the Hygiena journal, held on January 28, 2026, at the National Institute of Public Health in Prague, Professor Jana Jurkovičová, MD, PhD, announced her decision to step down from her position as Vice-Chair of the Editorial Board and to conclude her membership. Professor Jurkovičová had served on the Board since 2014, holding the position of Vice-Chair since July 1, 2019. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Professor Jurkovičová for her many years of selfless dedication to the development of the journal. We wish her continued health, well-being, and much happiness in both her personal and professional life.
Effective February 5, 2026, Professor Ľubica Argalášová, MD, PhD, MPH, also from the Institute of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, has been appointed as the new Vice-Chair. Professor Argalášová is a long-standing member of the Editorial Board, and we wish her every success in her new role.
Furthermore, effective February 5, 2026, Professor Kvetoslava Rimárová, MD, PhD, has been appointed as a member of the Editorial Board. Professor Rimárová works at the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. Her research focuses primarily on nutritional and environmental hygiene, epidemiology, and public health.
Editorial board
16.09.2025 – Living Conditions and Health – Nový Smokovec 2025
The XXXI International Conference Living Conditions and Health will be held on September 22-24, 2025 in the Spa Nový Smokovec, High Tatras, Slovakia. The event is organized by the Slovak Society of Hygienists SLS, the Institute of Hygiene of the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University in Bratislava, the Regional Public Health Office based in Poprad, and the Slovak Epidemiological and Vaccinological Society SLS. The conference will focus on the topics of nutrition, nutritional status and health, epidemiology and prevention of chronic and infectious diseases, occupational health protection and ergonomics in the working environment, noise, the issue of vibrations and other physical factors in the living and working environment, the protection and promotion of the health of children and youth, and education and training in public health.
Editorial board
20.05.2025 – 100th anniversary of the National Institute of Public Health
The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has been represented by a number of outstanding experts, recognised not only in Czech but also in international professional circles. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the institute celebrated this year, we would like to commemorate some of these personalities in the Hygiena journal. In Issue 1, we commemorate the 105th anniversary of the birth of doc. RNDr. Miroslav Polster, CSc (1920–1992), a leading figure in the field of microbiology, mycotoxicology and mycology. His professional work was connected with the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Brno, however, after his retirement he joined the newly established Centre for Hygiene of Food Chains in Brno under the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Prague (now the Centre for Health, Nutrition and Food in Brno, NIPH in Prague). Another paper discusses the turbulent life and work fate of MUDr. František Gallia (1912–1950), one of the founders of Czechoslovak virology, and his wife MUDr. Jindřiška Galliová (1913–2012), who worked for decades in the Department of Tuberculosis at the NIPH. MUDr. Galliová's memoirs have been previously published in the Pohybové ústrojí journal, with whose permission we reprint the text. On the pages of Hygiena they are now published in an extended form, supplemented with explanatory notes and unique photographs.
24.02.2020 – Amendment to Public Health Protection Statute
The Chamber of Deputies of the CR Parliament has passed in a majority vote a bill to the Public Health Protection Statute no. 258/2000 Coll. A part of the bill is re-introduction of mandatory higher medical education for the post of Chief Public Health Officer, clear definition of the role of a doctor in public health institutions and integration of public health institutes and legislative bodies with specialized education. The bill was submitted by the Health Service Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and received the support of a number of medical associations.
Representatives of the Society of Hygiene and Community Medicine CZMA JEP have commented that the high degree of support for the bill in the Chamber was a manifestation of Dictates of Society seeking a specific form for public health structure, and requested further legislative support in creating a valid concept of the Health Service as a multi-disciplinary vehicle for public health promotion.
The adopted amendment published in the Collection of Laws as Act No. 205/2020 Coll. came into force on 1 May 2020.
05.08.2019 – Life Conditions and Health – Conference
XXVII International Conference Life Conditions and Health will be held on 23 – 25 September 2019 in the Spa Nový Smokovec, High Tatras, Slovakia. The conference is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of Comenius University, of the Faculty of Medicine and of the Institute of Hygiene. Contributions from the Conference will be published full text in a peer-reviewed proceeding in English, Czech or Slovak language. Application form for accommodation should be sent until 16 August 2019.
Detailed information - Registration form »
09.09.2016 – Doctors without Borders – Infosessions
Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the Czech Republic holds regular evening infosessions. We would hereby like to invite you to the information evenings of international humanitarian organisation Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières/Lékaři bez hranic. Infosessions are in English and take place in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, or in the form of online webinars. You can see the dates and locations for upcoming information sessions. Download invitation »
03.08.2016 – Life Conditions and Health – Conference
The XXIV International Conference Life Conditions and Health takes place on 26 – 28 September 2016 at SPA Nový Smokovec, High Tatras, Slovakia. Contributions from the Conference will be published full text in a peer-reviewed proceeding in English, Czech or Slovak language. Download invitation »