In the European Netherlands, a Municipal Health Service (Dutch: Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst, GGD) is a decentralised public health organisation. Legally, the responsibility for the provision of this service lies with the municipalities. However, in practice, the municipalities work together to provide this service at a regional level, resulting in twenty-five "GGD regions". The borders of the GGD regions largely correspond to the borders of the safety regions. GGD GHOR Nederland is the national umbrella organisation of the twenty-five Municipal Health Services and Regional Medical Assistance Organisations (GHOR).
Tasks
Common tasks of the Municipal Health Services include:
Children's preventive healthcare Infectious disease control Health promotion Environmental medicine Medical screening Travel medicine STD testing
COVID-19 pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the Municipal Health Services have been tasked with setting up large testing and vaccination sites across the country. They also bear the responsibility for carrying out contact tracing.
GGD regions
See also National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) Dutch Association of Mental Health and Addiction Care (GGZ)
References
External links Media related to Municipal Health Service at Wikimedia Commons