When consulting your primary care physician for a prescription renewal, you might not expect to leave with a personalized prevention plan. However, this is what the prevention appointments now being rolled out in France offer, and this shift in approach is influencing a significant part of the health and wellness news this year. Between new laws, an expanded role for health professionals, and a growing emphasis on cardiovascular prevention, several topics deserve attention.
Prevention appointments: who can now conduct them
The Mon Bilan Prévention program, launched in 2024, targets four age groups (18-25 years, 45-50 years, 60-65 years, 70-75 years). The principle: a dedicated interview that leads to a personalized prevention plan integrated into the Shared Medical Record and sent to the primary care physician.
What changes concretely in 2026 is the expansion of authorized professionals. After doctors, midwives, nurses, and pharmacists, physiotherapists will also be able to conduct these assessments starting in October 2026. On the ground, this means that a patient receiving treatment in a physiotherapy office for chronic lower back pain can use the session to discuss smoking, physical activity, or screening, without needing an additional appointment with their general practitioner.
Health information can regularly be found on lecoindubienetre.fr, detailing these developments over the months, allowing for real-time tracking of the implementation schedule.
Feedback on this point varies: some pharmacists report strong demand, particularly among those aged 45-50, while other professionals note that the program is still relatively unknown to the general public. Coordination between the professional conducting the assessment and the primary care physician remains the link that needs strengthening.
Neuder Law and cardiovascular screening: what the text provides
Law No. 2026-668, published in the Official Journal on July 28, 2026, creates a multi-year national strategy to combat cardio-neuro-vascular diseases. The text does not merely set goals: it directly incorporates cardiovascular screening into existing prevention appointments.
One aspect specifically concerns children. The law mandates early screening around the sixth birthday, targeting conditions such as familial hypercholesterolemia. This condition often goes unnoticed for decades and can lead to early cardiovascular events if not addressed promptly.
Cardiovascular prevention in the workplace
The other concrete focus of the Neuder law directly impacts the working world. Occupational health services will have to organize annual cardiovascular screening and awareness campaigns in companies. For an employee in a nursing home, a logistics warehouse, or on a construction site, this could mean blood pressure checks and lipid assessments conducted at the workplace, without needing to take half a day off to consult.
This obligation represents a change in scope for occupational physicians, who are shifting from a role focused on fitness for duty to an active mission of preventing chronic diseases.
Mental health and isolation: a topic as significant as chronic diseases
According to a survey released this year, it is neither money nor physical health that worries the French the most, but a more diffuse issue: loneliness and social isolation. Wellness practitioners (sophrologists, psychologists, therapists) are noticing an increase in consultations related to relational anxiety and feelings of isolation.
International Friendship Day served as an opportunity to remind us of the documented link between social isolation and the deterioration of mental health. On the ground, therapists report that the demand for consultations related to loneliness has not diminished since the post-pandemic period.
What prevention can (and cannot) do
Prevention assessments now include a mental health component, but they remain in a short interview format. Identifying psychological distress in twenty minutes is possible, and referring to appropriate follow-up is also feasible, provided that psychological care options are accessible. The shortage of contracted psychologists in certain rural areas limits the reach of this screening.
- The MonParcoursPsy program allows for partial reimbursement of psychologist sessions, but the remaining costs still deter some patients.
- Pharmacists trained in identifying signs of anxiety or depression serve as a first line of defense, particularly for isolated elderly individuals.
- More and more companies are integrating psychological support programs, but their effectiveness largely depends on the confidentiality perceived by employees.
Epidemics in France: chikungunya and summer vigilance
Summer 2026 saw around twenty indigenous cases of chikungunya in the southwest of France, prompting several emergency mosquito control operations. The term “indigenous” means that the infection occurred within the territory, without travel abroad, confirming that the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is now an active vector in mainland France.
Monitoring symptoms after a mosquito bite (sudden fever, intense joint pain) is becoming a reflex to adopt, especially in departments where cases have been identified. Health authorities also remind the public of preventive measures: eliminate standing water around the home, wear covering clothing in the evening, and use appropriate repellents.
At the same time, the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains classified as a high risk for international spread by the WHO. No cases have been reported in France, but border surveillance measures remain active, and hospital health professionals are on alert.
With the structuring of prevention, new obligations arising from the Neuder law, and summer epidemic alerts, the year 2026 marks a concrete acceleration of public health policy in France. The next test will be the system’s ability to coordinate all these measures without burdening the patient journey or overwhelming already stressed professionals.