The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is Norway’s primary public institute within the Ministry of Health and Care Services.  The institute has sought to contribute to better public health by continually improving national efforts in outbreak preparedness, data gathering, and laboratory-based research and monitoring.  Because of increased disease burden, NIPH puts special attention on issues related to aging, mental health, drug abuse, and inequalities in social health.  With approximately 1,000 staff members, NIPH is divided into five departments: Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology, Forensic Toxicology and Drug Abuse Research, Mental Health, and Infectious Disease Control.

During the past year, NIPH has been involved in several outbreak investigations. The institute was the first to detect and alarm the global community of a highly resistant strain of influenza virus. NIPH also closely monitored a small community outbreak of Legionnaires disease linked to an industrial plant.  With the help of health institutes in Sweden and Denmark, NIPH detected a multinational outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium and traced its origins back to Denmark.

In addition to the successful investigations mentioned above, the institute in 2008 began implementing the new HPV vaccine to the general public and concluded a long-term study on issues related to family planning and pregnancy.