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National Level Policies

The National Level Policies section of the portal provides an overview of
the actual situation concerning actions to tackle health inequalities in the
different European countries.

This part of the portal is currently being developed, the information for the remaining countries will continuously be completed.

In addition to the national level portraits of the individual countries the
overview analysis has been conducted and its initial results have been
published in EuroHealth magazine (EuroHealth, 11:2 p.24).

Download the final 'Closing the Gap' publication: Taking Action on Health Equity.

This publication contains summaries of what each of the 21 ´Closing the Gap´ partners are doing to address health inequalities in their countries, as well as the conclusions and recommendations of this 3-year initiative.

Results of the same country

List all good practice projects of the actual country.

You are here: > National Level Policies > Finland > Policies, strategies and other documents > Driven by health sector

Policies and Strategies that are Driven by the Health Sector

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (MSAH) produced health policy programmes that aimed to address health inequalities in 1986, 1993 and 2001. The Government Resolution on Health 2015 (2001) is a public health programme that contains explicit lines of action on health inequalities. The new National Action Plan on the Reduction of Health Inequalities, which is being prepared in parallel with the government policy programme on Health Promotion for 2008-2011, will be finalised in early 2008. It highlights that sectors other than health should have goals or strategies that aim to address health inequalities either implicitly or explicitly. Further information is available here. The MSAH has funded projects that aim to focus on health inequalities. One of these is a long term project, TEROKA (acronym for Reducing Socioeconomic Health Inequalities in Finland).

Other policies set up by the MSAH which address health inequality issues include the long-term strategy, Strategies for Social Protection 2015, and the National Plan of Action to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion 2003-2005. In addition there are many policy documents published by MSAH that refer to inequalities in welfare, and thus implicitly health inequalities.

Further exploration of Health 2015
Health 2015 is a public health programme with specific strategies to tackle health inequalities. The programme refers to "reducing health disparities between population groups, i.e. smaller health differences between genders, socioeconomic categories and people living in the different regions". The goal of reducing inequality is also expressed separately in the form of a quantified target. These formulations are based on the historical principles of improving the level of health, and also of achieving an even distribution of health.

Further exploration of TEROKA (Reducing Socioeconomic Health Inequalities in Finland)
This project is carried out by researchers at government research institutes and the University of Helsinki. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of potentials for narrowing health inequalities, and the means of implementing health promotion programmes. TEROKA started in 1998 with the aim of mapping out available research and information on health impacts and policies tackling health inequalities. The project has grown into a long term project with the purpose of responding to the concern over the growing health inequality trends. The TEROKA project, and its predecessors, have carried out ten years of systematic work on health inequalities. The most recent effort has been the involvement in the Health Inequalities Action Plan preparation. The objectives of the projects are as follows: a) Compile and publish reports on the trends in health inequalities; b) Produce educational material, provide lectures and maintain and develop internet  services; c) In co-operation with all partners - identify, develop and assess potential national, regional and local actions to reduce health inequalities; d) Gather material for the basis of an action plan on health inequalities and be involved in the whole process; e) Aim to build practical ways to start tackling health inequalities and conduct follow-ups at the municipal level.

The TEROKA project has aimed to raise awareness on health inequalities in Finland and to disseminate information based on experiences of plausible methods and means of narrowing health inequalities in other countries (such as Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden). TEROKA has been successful as an catalyst in drawing attention to health inequalities. The project has even partly carried out the work that should be part of duties of the institutionalized health and social policy system. There is no formal evidence available of effectiveness. Informal evidence (according to a very subjective assessment) suggests that the project has been able to raise awareness of health inequalities and increase the visibility of health inequalities based on the evidence.