The Federal Centre for Health Education (german: Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung; BZgA) is a federal authority within the portfolio of the German Federal Ministry of Health. The Authority has its headquarters in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and is headed by

Heidrun Thaiss Heidrun or Heiðrún is a female name originally from Norse mythology. People * Heidrun Bluhm (born 1958), German politician * Heidrun Breier (born 1971), Romanian-German-Chilean actress; see ''Las 2 Carolinas'' * Heidrun Gerzymisch (born 1944), ...

. The BZgA was founded in 1967.

Tasks

The BZgA has the task of promoting the willingness of citizens to act responsibly to meet their health needs and to use the health care system properly. The main focuses of the BZgA are AIDS prevention,

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

drug abuse prevention Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on ...

for both legal and illegal drugs,

child and youth health A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger t ...

, healthy eating and organ donation. In addition, the Federal Centre for Health Education performs studies and investigations in order to improve their educational work. The studies are published regularly. At its inception the BZgA had the following tasks: * Development of guidelines and principles for the content and the methods of practical health education * Education and training of people in the field of health education and information * Coordination of health information and health education in the federal territory * Cooperation with foreign countries in these fields Government agencies established in 1967 Sex education Organisations based in Cologne {{Germany-org-stub