Finland’s first assessment of preparedness for serious health threats has been completed
Finland’s first assessment of preparedness for public health emergencies has been completed. The Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessment (PHEPA) was carried out by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as part of a new EU Regulation aimed at strengthening Member States’ capacities to prevent, prepare for and respond to serious health threats.
The PHEPA assessment is conducted every three years in EU and EEA countries. First, the assessed country completes a self-assessment questionnaire, on the basis of which ECDC reviews national plans and risk assessments. This is followed by an approximately five-day country visit by an ECDC expert team. As a result of the assessment, ECDC produces a report containing findings and recommendations on preparedness for health threats.
Key findings
In Finland, preparedness for emergencies is based on legislation and the national risk assessment and covers society as a whole, not only communicable diseases.
The assessment highlights the need to clarify coordination between administrative levels and sectors, as well as the need to develop methods for cross-sectoral risk assessment and emergency management.
According to ECDC, regular risk and vulnerability analyses in the health sector are an essential part of preparedness, and the Centre recommends that such analyses be conducted.
The recommendations also emphasise, among other things, that the pandemic preparedness plan should include a strategy for the rapid scaling up of laboratory testing capacity in emergency situations. In addition, the actors capable of carrying out testing should be identified.
With regard to communicable disease surveillance, the assessment points to the need to develop surveillance of respiratory infections through a system in which selected healthcare facilities and laboratories regularly report on the disease situation.
Furthermore, ECDC stresses the importance of strengthening cooperation between the animal health, human health and environmental sectors, as well as ensuring adequate resources for combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), that is, bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Previously, both Finland’s self-assessment and international evaluations have found Finland’s preparedness for health security to be at a good level. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, preparedness and contingency plans have been updated, which in part improved the assessment now carried out by ECDC.
Next steps
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) have reviewed the recommendations, supplemented them with background information and descriptions of ongoing and planned measures, and drawn up a national action plan.
The action plan will be used to guide resource allocation and to prepare further plans.
The next PHEPA assessment will be conducted in Finland in 2027.
More Information:
Country report: ECDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessment for Finland, 2024
Finland’s national action plan (in Finnish)
Joint external evaluation of IHR core capacities of the Republic of Finland (2017)
Hannu Kiviranta
Preparedness Manager
THL
tel. 029 524 6361
hannu.kiviranta(at)thl.fi
