The Health Council of the Netherlands is an independent scientific advisory body that has the statutory task of advising government and parliament in the broad domain of public health and healthcare.
Mission: help to promote health for all
The Health Council contributes to the promotion of health for all people in the Netherlands, for current as well as future generations. To this end, the council advises government and parliament on health policy based on the current level of scientific evidence.
Science essential to effective health policy
According to the Health Council, science is essential to the policy choices on public health and health care, and key to the effectiveness of policy and trust in government. With its advisory reports, the council offers science-based insights and courses of action, and forms a bridge between science and policy.
Attention to societal context
The Health Council is characterised by its independence and transparency, the thorough manner in which the advice is formed - by committees consisting of the best scientific experts from different fields - and the scientific quality of the advice. By focusing on these core values, the Health Council provides advice which is recognised as unbiased and trustworthy.
In addition to this, the Health Council specifically focuses on policy relevance and awareness of context. The advisory reports do not stop at scientific analysis, but also provide insight into the implementation practice and into the societal, political and administrative context that is relevant for the advice. This increases the chance that the advice is followed and leads to improvements.