Focus
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15.10.2012
Children are taken into care as a last resort
The sometimes acrimonious child welfare debate of recent weeks worries Ministerial Adviser Lotta Hämeen-Anttila.
"We would not want immigrants to begin avoiding child welfare services because they have begun to view the Finnish authorities as hostile. It is important to establish trust between clients and employees, so that we can provide help."
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08.10.2012
More nuanced approaches to drug policy work
MSAH Ministerial Counsellor Tapani Sarvanti considers the on-going,
open-ended debate around drugs policy important. He says that one
problem with the discussion in Finland has been that it seems
unable to handle the issue without going in for rigid categories.
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28.09.2012
Reaching for sustainability and efficiency
Päivi Sillanaukee, Permanent Secretary at the MSAH since the beginning of October, has a hefty portfolio. With the country's economy is in tight straits social and health services have to be organized more stringently, and efficiency sought at every turn.
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13.08.2012
Statistical data for more open use
There are numerous bodies in the social and health sector involved
in producing statistical data. The trend in recent years has been
to provide an increasingly wide variety of statistical products,
and thus make more accurate information publicly available. The
availability of statistical information has proceeded rapidly,
according to MSAH senior officer
Antti Alila and ministerial adviser
Sari Kauppinen.
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16.07.2012
Berry pickers on two levels
"The situation of foreign berry pickers in Finland depends on
whether they pick red berries in a field or yellow berries in a
marsh," says Markus Pyykkönen, Head of Development specializing in
occupational safety in agriculture at the MSAH. Those working for a
market-garden do so under work contracts, while wild berry pickers
are treated as entrepreneurs.
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04.06.2012
Eliminating Developing Country Poverty Piece by Piece
There are many dimensions to sustainable development. It is not
just a ecological issue, as development must also be sustainable
socially and economically. Finland will be taking part in the Rio
+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, 20-22 June.
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12.03.2012
Gender pay gap a major challenge for gender equality policy
Gender equality issues in Finland are regarded as of crucial
importance and are subject to continual intervention by government,
in particular to target areas in which progress has been difficult.
"For example, the gender pay gap remains even though there has been
some small positive developments on equal pay," says Senior Officer
Eeva Raevaara, secretary of the working group on
the government's gender equality action plan.
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27.02.2012
Savings to medicines reimbursement seek fairest solution
"Our pharmaceutical reimbursement system is currently being
reformed, in line with the stated objective of the government
programme. The aim is that the proposal concerning this structural
readjustment will be ready by the end of the year," says Director
General Outi Antila, who heads the working group on medicines'
reimbursements.
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02.01.2012
Finland and Russia strengthen cooperation in social and health sector
Finland and Russia aim to intensify their mutual collaboration in
the area of social welfare and health care. Last November the two
countries signed a memorandum of cooperation designed to achieve
this. According to Ministerial Adviser
Olli Kuukasjärvi, the agreement enables
cooperation on legislation, a swifter response in the event of
disease pandemics, and can make it easier to investigate cases of
fraudulent medical practitioners, an issue which has been prominent
in Finland in recent months.
