France is responsible for general public health, but the competencies specifically pertaining to health are divided between the State level and the local administrative units, which draw up and implement local health policies, undertake health surveillance, and participate in policy development for public and private hospitals, human resources development, and the organisation of networks of health professionals.
Deep in equatorial South America, French Guiana (also known as "Guyane") is a department of France bordering Brazil, Suriname, and the Atlantic. It's a land where old abuts new in striking incongruity. Dense rainforests shelter centuries-old indigenous villages, while rockets zoom overhead, launched from the country's lucrative Space Centre. The capital, Cayenne, is a melting pot of French, Asian, African, and Brazilian cultures.
French Guiana, as part of France, forms part of the European Union - the largest landmass for an area outside of Europe (since Greenland left the European Community in 1985), with one of the longest EU external boundaries. It is one of only three European Union territories outside Europe that is not an island (the others being the Spanish Autonomous Cities in Africa, Ceuta and Melilla).