[The national plan for development projects in disease prevention and health promotion. Background, organization and...

A five-year national programme for development projects in disease prevention and health promotion in Norwegian municipalities was implemented in 1989. Major goals were to stimulate the municipal health services to increase their health promotion activities and to gain experience of alternative organizational developments, such as inter-municipal and cross-sectoral collaborative health promotion efforts. During the first three years, 43% of Norway's municipalities applied for grants and 26% received them. The smaller municipalities applied less often and received fewer grants than the larger municipalities did. In all, a total of NOK 61 million was granted for 258 projects covering a wide range of individual and environmental health promotion areas. So far, the programme seems to have generated renewed interest for health promotion work in Norwegian municipalities.