Slovenia – euro net

Profil of the Organisation

The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is a public institute with 400 employees. Pursuant to the act amending the Health Service Act from 2013, as of 01. January 2014, the majority of the actitivties of the IVZ RS and part of the activities of regional health care institutions were merged with NIPH. Since 2014, NIPH has been organized as a unified institution with one central unit and nine regional units.

NIPH is the central institution, which provides the majority of public health activities in Slovenia and implements research and training in this field. Highly trained staff work on various tasks from epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases, environmental epidemiology, health promotion, health systems research and national coordination of prevention programmes in primary health care. NIPH also implements the tasks of national statistics on health and health care.

Responsibility for what region?

Slovenia.

Main items of content, guidelines in the context of prevention

The main activities of NIPH are financed by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia and cover the provision of health and health care databases, monitoring and assessing population health and health care systems, recognizing health threats and shaping measures for their management, strengthening health and preparing expert bases for adopting health friendly policies and programmes and disease prevention measures. Furthermore NIPH successfully participates in different international projects and has also assumed the role of lead partner in three European projects.

Experiences in the field of prevention on European level

Previous institution – Regional Institute of public health Maribor, which is now a part of NIPH co-operated in European projects: DETERMINE (EuroHealthNet), MONITORING MENTAL HEALTH ENVIRONMENT (EU Commission), EURO-URHIS 1 and 2 (DG Research), CompHP (Developing Competencies and Professional Standards for Health Promotion Capcity Building in Europe). RIPH Maribor cooperated also in FreD goes net and TAKE CARE, while Click for Support is current on-going project. As all three projects deal with alcohol / drugs, additional information were added.

National Institut of Public Health is the National Focal Point (NFPs) and therefore the main information interface between Slovenia and European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). It is the task of the institution to provide EMCDDA with all information requested within the framework of the Centres programmes or to satisfy ad hoc requests from policy makers and other key partners of the EMCDDA. We are also responsible for a broad dissemination at national level of the EMCDDA and REITOX work results.

FreD goes net: The early intervention approach was developed, tested and evaluated in Germany (LWL-Coordination Office for Drug-Related Issues) and transfered to 17 European countries.
It is meant for youngsters with risky patterns of alcohol and drug use, who were noticed by the police, judiciary system, school, hospitals, social care centers. The aim of the programme is to encourage young alcohol / drug users to critically reflect on their use and protect themselves from getting addicted. The main focus is on developing awareness of the risks associated with alcohol / drug use. Specifically, this means to gauge the risks of consumption, as well as estimating benefits and avoiding risks.

TAKE CARE: Project addresses four different target groups (levels): adolescents between 12 and 21 years, parents and relatives, key-persons and employees in retail. The overall goal of TAKE CARE is the prevention of addiction and the (physical, psychological and social) damages at adolescents consuming alcohol in a risky way. Subgaols, which should be achieved by all interventions, are the compliance with national regulations / youth protection laws about the sales of alcoholic beverages and the inspiration for a constructive social discourse about this topic; the support of adolescents and young adults in dealing responsibly with alcohol. There were also some specific goals for each target group.

Click for Support: The current EU project has been developed because digital techniques like the internet and smart phone apps have a big influence on the daily life of young people. They are used for communication with friends, as an information source, shopping and more. Although standardized guidelines could promote the introduction of good quality web-based interventions with a sound basis of professional knowledge, currently no such guidelines do exist. The development of such guidelines is the main objective of Click for Support. A second objective is to raise awareness on the importance of web-based techniques in the daily work of prevention workers. They should keep up with the techniques the target group use on a daily basis, therefore web-based technologies will also be used in the development and for promoting and disseminating the project and the guidelines (a LinkedIn group for example).

In 2014 NIPH together with Dipartimento delle Dipendenze, Azienda ULSS 20 Verona I-SEE applied project for strengthening information exchange between Italy and South East Europe neighbouring countries in New Psychoactive Substances at DG Justice. The main objective of the I-SEE project is to strengthen information exchange between Italy and South East Europe neighbouring countries (Slovenia and Croatia on NPS.

Experiences in management and communication on European level

LEPAAC (European Partnership in Action Against Cancer) As the coordinator and leader of 4 work packages, NIPH assumed the management of the project, which included 38 partner in Europe and over 90 different participating partners. The project value of EUR 6,209,752 is funded by the EU within the framework of the health programme. The project met objectives in the fields of cancer prevention and control: health promotion and cancer prevention, early detection, determining good practice examples in health care in the field of cancer, collecting and analyzing comparable data and a coordinated approach to cancer research.

PARENT (PAtient REgistries iNiTiative) NIPH is the project coordinator and work package leader of the Mapping and Methodological Guidelines WP. The project value of 3,360,548,96 is co-funded by the EC. The project is an initiative on cross-border use of patient registries. The main objective is to support EU MS in developing comparable and interoperable patient registries in clinical fields of identified importance (e.g. chronic diseases, rare diseases, medical technologies) in order to rationalize and harmonise the development and use of patient registries.

CANCON (European Guide on Quality Improvement in Comprehensive Cancer Control) NIPH is the coordinator and WP 1 leader. The project value of EUR 5,999,985 is funded by the EC within the framework of the health programme. The main task is to prepare the European Guide for Quality Improvement in Comprehensive Cancer Control, which will be the key strategic tool for political decision-makers in the development and implementation of comprehensive cancer care.

NIPH participated as partner in OSPI (Optimising Suicid Prevention Interventions) project funded by the EU under the 7th framework programme. 9 countries participated in the project. The main objective of the project was to review and identify the most effective suicide prevention strategies and implement them in 4 pilot countries.