In this report, the status for the project “Improved control of communicable diseases in the municipalities” is presented. The project was carried out jointly by the Norwegian Board of Health and the National Institute of Public Health in 2001-2002. The aim of the project was to stimulate the municipalities to improve control of communicable diseases locally, both in practice and in their planning.

 

The project was initiated on the basis of experience from supervision, and in order to increase the competence of both the public medical officer with responsibility for control of communicable diseases and other health care workers.

 

Several different measures were used to assess the situation in the municipalities. One aim was that, by the end of 2002, all municipalities should have a plan for control of communicable diseases. A master plan should be developed that could be used by all the municipalities when developing their own plan for control of communicable diseases. Measures should be implemented to increase the skills of public medical officers and other health care workers in the field of control of communicable diseases.

 

Feedback from the participants at the conferences on control of communicable diseases in the counties indicates that the project has had a positive effect. In addition, the Norwegian Board of Health has obtained useful information and experience from the project for future supervision work.