The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) is the central Slovenian institution for public health practice, research and education. Its academic staff work on various tasks covering the areas of epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases, health promotion, health protection, health system research and national coordination of preventive programmes in primary health care. It also functions as the central statistical authority in health. Although public health practice is not in the exclusive domain of a single type of organisation or profession, in Slovenia as in many other countries, the majority of important public health functions and services are provided by NIJZ. NIJZ employs over 500 staff members.
The main function of NIJZ is to provide research in the field of health, protect and increase the level of health of the population by raising the awareness of population and carrying out other preventive measures. NIJZ’s main activities are funded by the Ministry of Health and include national health statistics and research in the field of public health including health care systems; activities to identify health threats and design measures for their control; designing and providing health promotion programmes and preparing a scientific background for health-friendly policies, programmes and measures for disease prevention. NIJZ has successfully coordinated and participated in various international projects. NIJZ has also taken on the role of lead partner in four prominent EU-funded Joint Actions: EPAAC – European Partnership for Action Against Cancer, PARENT – Cross-border Patients’ Registries Initiative, CANCON – Development of a European Guide on Quality Improvement in Comprehensive Cancer Control and iPAAC – Innovative Partnership for Action Against Cancer. The members of the NIJZ are coordinating the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Slovenia.