NORSURV

Summary

Project summary

Epidemiological surveillance is the continuous and systematic collection, collation, and analysis of data concerning infections, infectious diseases, pathogens, immunity, vaccination, and relevant behaviours, with the presentation of surveillance findings to those who need them for public health purposes. Surveillance is a foundation for infectious disease prevention and control.  

The current Norwegian surveillance systems have several weaknesses, including reliance on paper forms sent by mail, no surveillance of severe outcomes, and no use of secondary sources, resulting in inadequate surveillance results for key stakeholders and inability to fulfil ECDC’s reporting requirements.  

Based on the experiences from the Covid-pandemic, the NORSURV project aims to ameliorate those weaknesses through digitalization, automated processes, and utilization of secondary information sources. Specifically, the project will:  

• develop the technical infrastructure and legal environment for near real-time linkage of case notification data with additional information from other registries, particularly the registry of all hospitalisations, for surveillance purposes and implement this integrated surveillance system 
• further develop and expand the national database of laboratory results from all clinical microbiological laboratories  
• develop the infrastructure for and then pilot an electronic notification pathway from clinicians 
• develop and implement an epidemic intelligence information system that supports event recording, logging, follow-up, and the production of reports and early warnings nationally and internationally. Along the way, the legal environment for these changes will be reformed. 
• Capacity and proficiency among staff will be built through training sessions and on the job learning.

Project leaders and participants

The NORSURV project is coordinated by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), which is mandated by law to run surveillance systems. NIPH is the ECDC’s partner institute in Norway and the focal point for EWRS. 

Project leader, NIPH: Preben Aavitsland and Trine Orten Groven

WP 1 Management, coordination, administration, and evaluation – lead Preben Aavitsland/ co-lead Trine Orten Groven 

WP 2 Integrated surveillance - lead: Preben Aavitsland/ co-lead Elisabeth Hagen 

WP 3 Epidemic intelligence - lead Emily MacDonald/ co-lead Rossa O’Donnell 

WP 4 Capacity building, dissemination, and sustainability - lead Bjørn Iversen 

The NORSURV project involves several employees in the NIPH, as well as in the Norwegian Directorate for Health. If you require more information about the project, contact the WP leads. 

NORSURV is co-funded by the European Union

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HaDEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.