The new AESAP has been established to strengthen Spain’s surveillance and response to health crises and threats. Zaragoza was chosen over seven other cities to host an agency that aims to become a national reference in public health.
Zaragoza will add a newly created state agency to its institutional landscape with a mission that affects the entire country: to anticipate health risks and improve the capacity to respond when those risks escalate into crises.
This is the State Agency for Public Health (AESAP). Its physical headquarters will be located in the Aragonese capital following the decision made by the Council of Ministers on July 28.
What exactly is this new agency? What will it do from Zaragoza? And why does its arrival matter far beyond just new state administrative offices?
To understand this, we must go back more than a decade and inevitably recall what occurred during the pandemic.
An idea pending since 2011
Spain approved the General Public Health Law in 2011. This law already contemplated the creation of a State Public Health Center aimed at providing technical and scientific advice and evaluating interventions in this area. However, that provision was never fully developed.
The COVID-19 pandemic later highlighted the challenges of dealing with a large-scale health emergency and made clear the need to strengthen the structures for surveillance, coordination, information, and response.
The new State Agency for Public Health is largely a response to that need.
Law 7/2025, dated July 28, formally created the AESAP and amended the General Public Health Law. The agency is affiliated with the Ministry of Health but has its own legal personality, assets, treasury, and management autonomy. Additionally, it must operate with technical independence.
This is an important distinction. The Agency does not replace the Ministry of Health nor does it assume the health competencies of the autonomous communities. Its role will be primarily technical and scientific, and it will need to work in coordination with various administrations.
Monitoring health before a crisis strikes
One of its major functions will be to observe what is happening with the health of the population. This involves looking well beyond infectious diseases.
The Agency will need to contribute to identifying, analyzing, and evaluating both communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental risks, social determinants of health, and inequalities among different population groups. The idea is to have sufficient information to detect problems, assess risks, and ensure that health decisions are based on scientific evidence.
It will also play a key role in the coordination and evaluation of the National Health Public Surveillance Network. Put simply: if a new health threat emerges anywhere in the country, Spain needs systems capable of detecting it as soon as possible, sharing information, assessing its severity, and preparing a response.
Preparing for the next emergency
The experience of COVID-19 underscores another major responsibility of the Agency. It’s not just about reacting when an emergency occurs. Preparation must come beforehand.
The AESAP will work on planning and coordinating the preparedness and response to health crises, as well as developing early warning systems. Pandemics, emerging diseases, zoonoses, and certain environmental and climate-related risks are part of an increasingly complex scenario.
Here, one of the guiding principles of the Agency comes into play: «One Health», known internationally as One Health. The concept is based on the seemingly simple idea that human health cannot be understood in isolation. It is interconnected with animal health and the environment.
The emergence of diseases transmitted between animals and humans, the health consequences of climate change, or antibiotic resistance are good examples of problems that require a collaborative approach.
Informing is also a public health issue
The pandemic taught another lesson: having information is not enough. It must also be communicated effectively.
Among the Agency’s functions will be to inform the public about health risks in a comprehensible, accessible manner grounded in available evidence. It will also prepare an annual report on the state of public health and wellbeing, equity, and social determinants, which will be presented to the General Courts.
Communication will thus be integrated as a tool of public health policy. This will be complemented by providing technical and scientific advice to administrations, evaluating public policies, and promoting research, training, and innovation.
Why Zaragoza?
The choice of headquarters sparked a competition among eight cities: Barcelona, Granada, León, Lugo, Murcia, Oviedo, Toledo, and Zaragoza. Ultimately, the Aragonese candidacy prevailed.
The decision of the Council of Ministers was based on the evaluation conducted within the established procedure to decentralize state public agencies. The Zaragoza proposal was considered the most comprehensive and received the best overall rating.
Factors that worked in its favor included the institutional, political, and social support garnered around the candidacy, as well as elements related to the city’s own characteristics. The official documentation highlights its geographical location, communications, connectivity, the availability of adequate spaces, and the presence of a health, academic, research, and scientific environment capable of supporting the Agency’s development.
The University of Zaragoza, health centers, research institutes, and other structures linked to health and knowledge form part of that ecosystem. Zaragoza’s location was also valued for its potential to contribute to a more balanced distribution of state institutions across the territory.
More than just a new administrative headquarters
The establishment of the AESAP holds particularly interesting implications for Aragon. This is not merely a transfer of offices from Madrid. This is the construction from scratch of a specialized state agency that will need to attract professionals, establish relationships with universities and research centers, and create collaborative networks with national and international institutions.
The opportunity for Zaragoza lies precisely in this. The Agency’s presence can strengthen connections between the administration, the Aragonese health system, the University of Zaragoza, and research centers; facilitate the arrival of specialized professionals, and enhance the city’s visibility within national and international public health networks.
Not all these effects will be automatic. They will depend on how the Agency ultimately develops, its resources, and the capability of the Aragonese environment to establish relationships with it. Nevertheless, its establishment places Zaragoza in a rare position: to participate from the ground up in building a new state institution.
An agency designed to anticipate
When the next risk arises —because sooner or later it will— the AESAP will be ready.
