Ministry of Health (Denmark)

The Danish Ministry of Health (Danish: Sundhedsministeriet)^[1] is a Danish governmental ministry responsible for healthcare policy in Denmark. First created as an independent ministry in 1926, it has at various times been combined with the Ministry of the Interior as the Ministry of Interior and Health, most recently in 2022-, and has had various names. The current Minister for Health is Sophie Løhde,^[1] and the Permanent Secretary since 11 January 2021 is Svend Særkjær.^[2]

Ministry of Health

Sundheds- og Ældreministeriet
Headquarters of the Danish Ministry of Health at Holbergsgade 6 in Copenhagen
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Denmark
Minister responsible	Sophie Løhde
Website	http://sum.dk

Responsibilities

The ministry oversees all aspects of healthcare in Denmark, including hospitals, medical treatments, dispensaries, patient rights, healthcare data collection and medical and research ethics.^{[citation needed]}

History

The ministry was first created in 1926, and since then has several times been merged with the Ministry of the Interior and re-established under various official names. In modern times it was first re-established in September 1987,^[3] with responsibilities drawn in part from other ministries, including oversight over foodstuffs, anti-narcotics and anti-alcohol efforts, education of medical personnel, and health care in Greenland—some of these were later reassigned—and was recombined with the Ministry of the Interior in November 2001. In November 2007 it again became an independent ministry under the name Ministerium for Sundhed og Forebyggelse (English: Ministry for Health and Prevention), taking on some responsibilities from the Family Ministry, which was dissolved; the Ministry of the Interior, in turn, was merged into a new Ministry of Welfare (Velfærdsministerium).^[3] In 2010 the combined Ministry of Interior and Health was again reconstituted, but the following year the Ministry of the Interior was included in a new Ministry of the Economy and the Interior [da] while the Ministry of Health once more became the Ministry for Health and Prevention. In June 2015 it was renamed the Ministry of Health and the Aged,^[3] and acquired some responsibilities from the Social- og Indenrigsministeriet (Ministry of Social affairs and the Interior), the combination of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior which was created at the same time.^[4] In November 2016, under Lars Løkke Rasmussen's third government, it became a separate ministry once more.^[5]

List of ministers

No.	Portrait	Name (Born-Died)	Term			Political Party	Government	Ref
			Took office	Left office	Duration
Minister of Health Services (Minister for Sundhedsvæsenet)
1		Viktor Rubow [da] (1871–1929)	14 December 1926	30 April 1929	2 years, 137 days	Venstre	Madsen-Mygdal Cabinet	[6]
Minister of Development and Health Affairs (Minister for Byggeri og Sundhedsvæsen)
2		Johannes Kjærbøl (1885–1973)	13 November 1947	23 November 1947	10 days	Social Democrats	Hedtoft I Cabinet	[7]
Minister of Health (Sundhedsminister)
3		Agnete Laustsen (1935–2018)	10 September 1987	3 June 1988	267 days	Conservatives	Schlüter II Cabinet	–
4		Elsebeth Kock-Petersen (born 1949)	3 June 1988	7 December 1989	1 year, 187 days	Venstre	Schlüter III Cabinet	–
5		Ester Larsen (1936–2025)	7 December 1989	25 January 1993	3 years, 49 days	Venstre	Schlüter III Cabinet–IV	–
6		Torben Lund (born 1950)	25 January 1993	27 September 1994	1 year, 245 days	Social Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I Cabinet	–
7		Yvonne Herløv Andersen (born 1942)	27 September 1994	30 December 1996	2 years, 94 days	Centre Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen II Cabinet	–
8		Birte Weiss (born 1941) (Also served as Minister of the Interior)	30 December 1996	23 March 1998	1 year, 83 days	Social Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen III Cabinet	–
9		Carsten Koch (born 1945)	23 March 1998	23 February 2000	1 year, 337 days	Social Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet	–
10		Sonja Mikkelsen (born 1955)	23 February 2000	21 December 2000	302 days	Social Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet	–
11		Arne Rolighed (born 1947)	21 December 2000	27 November 2001	341 days	Social Democrats	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet	–
Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister)
12		Lars Løkke Rasmussen (born 1964)	27 November 2001	23 November 2007	5 years, 361 days	Venstre	Anders Fogh Rasmussen I Cabinet–II	–
Minister of Health and Prevention (Minister for sundhed og forebyggelse)
13		Jakob Axel Nielsen (born 1967)	23 November 2007	23 February 2010	2 years, 92 days	Conservatives	Anders Fogh Rasmussen III Cabinet Lars Løkke Rasmussen I Cabinet	–
Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister)
14		Bertel Haarder (born 1944)	23 February 2010	3 October 2011	1 year, 222 days	Venstre	Lars Løkke Rasmussen I Cabinet	–
Minister of Health and Prevention (Minister for sundhed og forebyggelse)
15		Astrid Krag (born 1982)	3 October 2011	30 January 2014	2 years, 119 days	SF	Thorning-Schmidt I Cabinet	–
16		Nick Hækkerup (born 1968)	3 February 2014	28 June 2015	1 year, 145 days	Social Democrats	Thorning-Schmidt II Cabinet	–
Minister of Health and Elderly Affairs (Sundheds- og ældreminister)
17		Sophie Løhde (born 1983)	28 June 2015	28 November 2016	1 year, 153 days	Venstre	Lars Løkke Rasmussen II Cabinet	[3][8]
Minister of Health (Sundhedsminister)
18		Ellen Trane Nørby (born 1980)	28 November 2016	27 June 2019	2 years, 211 days	Venstre	Lars Løkke Rasmussen III Cabinet	[5]
Minister of Health and Elderly Affairs (Sundheds- og ældreminister)
19		Magnus Heunicke (born 1975)	27 June 2019	15 December 2022	3 years, 171 days	Social Democrats	Frederiksen I Cabinet	[9]
Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister)
(17)		Sophie Løhde (born 1983)	15 December 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 243 days	Venstre	Frederiksen II Cabinet

See also

• List of Danish government ministries
• Healthcare in Denmark