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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 > Tools and resources

Tools and resources

In this section main tools used to implement and monitor national policies in the field of health inequalities are listed.

Applied by the Health Sector

Funding
There is no specific ‘health inequalities’ funding. However, the MSAH has a funding instrument for health promotion which is used for activities on SDHI, which include financing projects that strive for the reduction of health inequalities.

Monitoring system:

1. Annual questionnaire surveys (adults: KTL/NPHI, children and adolescents: STAKES and KTL)
2. Other national surveys such as the Health Interview Survery (HIS) on health and its determinants by KTL, Social Insurance Institute (SII), STAKES, Statistics Finland etc.
3. Quinquennial risk factors surveys including a restricted health examination survey (HES)-element (KTL)
4. Comprehensive HES surveys every 10-20 years including measurements of functional capacity, oral health etc (KTL in collaboration with several other organisations).

Strategic Iniatives
In the course of Closing the Gap, participating institutes have developed Strategic Initiatives outlining further steps that can realistically be taken to tackle health inequalities.In order to support this process, an internal policy tool kit was developed to give further guidance on potential strategies for action. The Strategic Initiatives were shared and discussed in the context of the National Seminars that took place in 17 countries in mid-February 2007.

• Preparation of a National Action Plan to Reduce Health Inequalities - A Roadmap

Applied by the Non-Health Sector

Funding
Finland's Slot Machine Association (Raha-automaattiyhdistys or RAY) was established in 1938 to raise funds through gaming operations to support Finnish health and welfare organizations. RAY has an exclusive rights to operate slot machines and casinos based on the Lottery Act. This Act was established in order to minimize the negative social impacts of gambling. Therefore, the revenues from casinos and slot machines are distributed in the form of funding to health and social welfare organizations in the hope to strengthen society and alleviate inequality issues. RAY has defined a new funding strategy where one of the main strategies is to allocate funding for the support and services for the people in the weakest social position and to tackle health inequalities.