Health in Norway
Health in Norway, with its early history of poverty and infectious diseases along with famines and epidemics, was poor for most of the population at least into the 1800s.
The country eventually changed from a peasant society to an industrial one and established a public health system in 1860.
[1] The under five mortality per 1000 live births in 2016 were three cases and the probability of dying between 15 and 60 years for males was 66 and 42 for females per 1000 in population.
[6] A new measure of expected human capital calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by the Lancet in September 2018.
In 1855, Gaustad Hospital opened as the first mental asylum in the country and was the start of an expansion in treating people with such disorders.
Even though Norway experienced a setback during World War II, the country achieved steady development.
Children often had to walk long distances to get work as shepherds during the summer in order to help their families with income.
This can be attributed to better nutrition and living conditions, better education and economy, better treatment possibilities and preventive health care (especially immunization).
The trend was reversed when Norwegian parents were encouraged to lay their children on their backs and not their stomachs when sleeping.
[8] At the beginning of the 19th century the total population was just under 1 million, however it doubled within the next hundred years even though many decided to emigrate.
The proportion of people associated with agriculture, forestry and fishing declined while the percentage affiliated with industries increased.
[8] The Norwegian government recognized that the population needed to improve its health if the country was to become a nation with strong economic development.
With new discoveries within the field and greater understanding on how bacteria and viruses transfer and spread among humans it was possible to make significant changes in treatment and care of patients.
[8] The incidence of coronary heart disease in Norway reduced significantly between 1995 and 2010, with about 66% of the reduction due to changes in modifiable risk factors like activity levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Tobacco use and increases in cholesterol levels show a strong correlation to higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Patients can be referred to the district mental health center by a general practitioner for diagnosing, treatment or admission.
[20][21] Involuntary mental health care in Norway is divided into inpatient and outpatient facilities and observation.
[21] In involuntary outpatient services the patient lives at home or is voluntarily in an institution, but regularly has to report to the district mental health center.
[21] The control committee has as their main task to ensure that every patient's rights are secured and protected in a meeting with involuntary care.
[18] A survey done in 2011 showed that 10.2% of the population of Norway reported to have experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression within the last two weeks.
[27] Public Health Report 05/2018, shows that the two main causes of death are cardiovascular disease and cancer.
[28] One of the major findings from the report (2016), is that an unhealthy diet is the most important risk factor for premature deaths in Norway.
“46 per cent of all deaths before the age of 70 in Norway can be explained by behavioural factors such as unhealthy diet, obesity, low physical activity and the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs” says Professor Stein Emil Vollset, Director of the newly established Centre for Burden of Disease at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
“If we consider the population as a whole, it appears that an unhealthy diet represents a greater risk to public health than smoking.
Approximately 1 in 4 middle-aged men and 1 in 5 women have obesity with a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher in Norway.
[30] A wealthy economy makes it possible to buy tobacco, fast food, sweets and sugary drinks that few people had access to or could afford until after 1950.
In large, physical activity is decreasing, electronics, computers, social media, and the internet demands more of daily life.
[31] Only 30 percent of adults in Norway are fulfilling the advice to stay physically active for 150 minutes per week.
[31] Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) is a measure of the burden of disease and an indicator of health status.
[37] In Norway, the DALYs per percent has been dominated by Non-communicable diseases, NCDs, as displayed in Fig 1 (blue).
