Ingvild Kjerkol

Ingvild Kjerkol (born 18 May 1975) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.

Kjerkol was born in Stjørdal on 18 May 1975, and is a daughter of psychologist Ole Meier Kjerkol and nurse Bodil Johanne Kjerkol.

She studied psychology and informatics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and at the Sør-Trøndelag University College.

She is married to Rune Øyan, with whom she has three children.

Kjerkol was a member or the municipal council of Stjørdal from 1995 to 2011.

She was a member of the Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality from 2003 to 2013, and chaired the county cabinet from 2011 to 2013.

She was a deptuty representative to the Storting from the constituency of Nord-Trøndelag for the periods 2005–2009 and 2009–2013, for the Labour Party.

She was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Nord-Trøndelag first time in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021.

She has been a member of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, and of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services.

Since 2021, she has served as minister of health and care services.

In 2024 she was accused of plagiarizing and fabricating parts of her master's thesis, leading to calls for her resignation.

She was elected ordinary representative to the Storting in 2013, where she was member of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications from 2013 to 2015, and the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services from 2015 to 2017.

She was also a member of the Election Committee from 2013 to 2017, and of the Preparatory Credentials Committee in 2017.

From 2016 to 2017 she was a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

She was re-elected to the Storting for the period 2017–2021, and was a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services during the whole period, as well of the Election Committee and the Credentials Committee.

She was again re-elected to the Storting for the period 2021–2025.

Kjerkol was appointed minister of health and care services in Støre's Cabinet on 14 October 2021.

Following the attack in Kongsberg, Kjerkol expressed that the health services weren't good enough when faced to handle sick people who may be dangerous.

She also mentioned she had brought up with the minister of justice on how the cooperation between the police and health services are like.

On the issue of eating disorders, Kjerkol announced that a plan to assist people with said issues and further mental health would be necessary.

She also said it was necessary to increase the special health service and municipalities' services regarding eating disorders.

On 18 December, Kjerkol and higher education minister Ola Borten Moe announced the government’s plan to open 500 new study places for nurses, which would happen by autumn 2022.

Kjerkol said: "We lack quite a few nurses both in the municipalities and in the hospitals. And then we lack specialist nurses. Here we are talking about several thousand nurses we would like to have in service".

The move was notably praised by both the Conservative and Progress parties.

In April, Kjerkol didn't rule out that discrimination could happen in the health service when it came to gynaecology treatment of women in comparison to men.

She also referred to a committee that had been established to find out if deceases that affect women are being treated differently then those that affect men.

In May, Kjerkol asked for inputs for an abortion issue commission that had been set down to look into the largest changes made to the abortion law.

The inputs in question were primarily who should sit on the commission, with experiences in different fields regarding abortion.

In the wake of revelations by Aftenposten showing that mentally ill children wasn’t receiving necessary care and treatment by children's welfare services, Kjerkol stated that said children would be prioritised and have an equal right to treatment.

She also urged the regions to prioritise children and youth, while it also being important for health services to be able to reach children, including those in institutions.

In August, when revelations emerged that Støre had seen a private doctor, Kjerkol refused to comment.

The Red Party went out against this and called it troubling that the government vowed to focus on public health services while the prime minister himself utilised private services.

In September, she stated that hotline and health services should be improved in order to help young people who is leaning towards suicide.

She also called for a "build down" on taboos and stigmas and openness around people who lean towards suicide.

Kjerkol stated: "It is important to counteract stigma and taboos, so that more people dare to be open about what is difficult. The men's role commission will look at how boys grow up, also when it comes to the situation of queers who struggle to stand out and experience an additional burden to be themselves".

Back in July 2022, Ukraine had asked Norway to take in injured soldiers.

The process was described as being slow and bureaucratic, and only in September was the request accepted.

However during the request's evaluation, the process of taking in injured soldiers were temporarily halted.

On 11 October, Kjerkol confirmed that the Ministry of Health and Care Services had taken long time to consider Ukraine's demand.

In August 2020, she was elected leader of the Trøndelag Labour Party, with Amund Hellesø and Eva Kristin Hansen as deputy leaders.