The Public Health Agency of Sweden has a national responsibility for public health issues. The agency promotes good public health by building and disseminating knowledge, to health care and others responsible for infectious disease control and public health. The agency was established on January 1, 2014 and is a merger of the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (Folkhälsoinstitutet) and the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet). Most of the work concerning environmental health and the responsibility for environment and public health reports at the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) was also transferred to the new agency.