[The health of sailors--at sea and in port towns].

Initiatives to promote better health among Norwegian sailors in the period 1890 - 1940 should be seen in the context of contemporary Norwegian health care policies. Preventive measures were most important, and special attention was given to hygiene and tuberculosis. Public health officials, shipping companies and non-governmental organizations, such as the Norwegian Red Cross, cooperated to do this work. Health care work among mariners had some special aspects. Sailors were the first group in the country to be subject to obligatory health checks. The sailors were exposed to other diseases in ports abroad than at home; and during the period examined in this article, Norwegian tropical medicine and ships medicine were interwoven. In addition, the prevention and treatment of venereal diseases among sailors were subject to great interest, especially after the First World War. The article is based on the author's research for her doctoral dissertation, i.e. literature and historical sources, such as articles from journals and newspapers and archival resources (from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Shipping Office at the Ministry of Trade).