NAFKAM

The National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM) is organized as a center at the Faculty of Medicine, at the  UiT The Arctic University of Norway. It is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services.

The center promotes, implements and coordinates Norwegian research in complementary and alternative treatment. The center emphasises multidisciplinary research. In addition NAFKAM is working with education, consultancy services, international and national cooperation/network building and information.

WHO Collaborating Centre

NAFKAM was designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine in 2008.

The Registry

The Registry of Exceptional Courses of Disease is a Scandinavian registry run by NAFKAM. The registry is collecting information from people who have experienced an exceptional course of disease after the use of alternative treatment compared to what was expected based upon medical examinations.

Information about cam to the Norwegian population

In 2004 the Norwegian government gave the first budget appropriation for the creation of a national CAM information bank. The aim of this knowledge-based database is to provide Norwegian users with unbiased research based information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).  Visit the webpage: www.nifab.no

New website: CAM Regulation – a database on the regulation of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Europe

On March 11, the National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM) in Norway will launch its new website CAM Regulation. The website will provide details on the regulation of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in 39 European/ EU countries. The website will be open-access, and available in English.

Research and information at NAFKAM gives high priority to patient safety. In 2015 and beyond, European citizens will reportedly seek CAM treatment provided by both CAM practitioners as well as health care professionals beyond their own country of residence. CAM regulation differs substantially from country to country in Europe. All parties involved (patients, CAM practitioners and health care professionals) therefore need to be up-to-date on issues important for the care/treatment they are seeking.

Regulation is an important management tool in risk governance of health care services. With CAM Regulation, NAFKAM’s objective is to give an overview of the regulation and thereby enable European citizens to make informed and safe choices when they seek CAM treatments both at home and over the border.

The CAM Regulation website will provide information on both CAM regulation in general, as well as on specific regulatory issues on 12 selected CAM treatments within the following subject areas:

• Legal and regulatory status
• Governmental supervision
• Reimbursement status
  
  

The website will present hard copies of the work package (WP) 2 reports in the EU-funded CAMbrella project (submitted on Dec 31, 2012). New regulation that has come to our attention after 2012 will be presented as News. We would greatly appreciate if you would forward any news about new regulation to us. This will enable the website to be as updated as possible.
The CAM Regulation website will be found at http://nafkam-camregulation.uit.no

Employees at The National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine: