[Health promotion and prevention in foreign populations in Switzerland:step-by-step progress]

The national office for public health (Bundesamt für Gesundheitswesen) aims to integrate the specific features of its target groups into its health promotion and prevention activities. This same strategy was applied to target the immigrant population. Initially these activities exclusively addressed prevention of Aids in immigrants from Spain, Portugal and Turkey. After 1993 they were extended to a wider range of issues and target groups. Women's health was one of the main topics which were added and activities were extended to groups from Africa, Latin America and to asylum seekers. Since 1995 drug and alcohol addiction became additional targets. In the course of these new activities groups from Italy and former Yugoslavia have also been addressed with respect to the various health promotion and prevention programmes. The cornerstones of the programme are (1) collaboration with the countries of origin of the various immigrant groups, (2) involvement of the target groups into the various activities and (3) the creation of awareness within Swiss institutions, organisations and immigrant administration offices towards specific problems of immigrants and their involvement into the various activities. A wide range of strategies have been employed which have already been evaluated. Amongst others those are training of health workers, who are themselves members of the various target groups, information events in immigrant clubs, telephone counselling in various languages. The results of the evaluation, problems and prospects for the future will be presented.