Swiss Cohort & Biobank

Advancing the Swiss Cohort and Biobank is a strategic priority: The public health community’s long-standing advocacy for a large-scale national cohort is reaching a turning point. Its necessity for Switzerland’s competitiveness in environmental, exposome, and personalized health research is now undisputed across academic, federal, and cantonal sectors.

Proven impact & institutional support: Evidence from existing cohorts has already proven vital; for example, BASPO’s Youth and Sports Program utilized cohort data to demonstrate the role of organized sports in preventing activity decline in youth. Furthermore, the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) continues to advocate for a population-based biobank to capitalize on prior investments in personalized health.

Navigating the political landscape: Following a pilot phase ("Swiss Health Study"), the FOPH and FDHA declined further funding due to federal budget constraints. In response to public concern regarding chemical exposures, SSPH+ successfully lobbied Parliament to include cohort funding in national committee agendas. While initial financial commitments were stalled by budget cuts, the momentum remains strong:

• FOPH issued a strong statement supporting a future cohort led by academic public health institutions.
• Federal Councillor E. Baume-Schneider explicitly endorsed the project’s relevance.

The Future: IOP4CH This high-level support warrants a reconsideration of the "IOP4CH" (Imaging and Omics Platform for Swiss Citizen Health). Evaluated at the highest excellence level by the SNSF and supported by swissuniversities, IOP4CH was included in the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructure 2023.

Next Steps: Under the leadership of Nicole Probst-Hensch (PI), alongside the SSPH+ Directorate Members Murielle Bochud, Luca Crivelli and Viktor von Wyl and SSPH+ President Milo Puhan, SSPH+ is actively seeking public and private matching funds. By securing these partnerships, we aim to finance this essential infrastructure, ensuring long-term surveillance of environmental risks and fostering broad stakeholder engagement in Swiss health protocol development.