Press releases and news

This autumn, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is studying the well-being of adults living in Finland and their experiences of health and social services.

In addition to participating in the campaign against racism, The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) supports work communities in learning new, anti-racist working methods.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) directs wellbeing services counties to provide a booster dose of the whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy. The aim is to prevent serious cases of whooping cough in babies.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC, the risk of an mpox outbreak in Europe exists but is very unlikely. In particular risk groups and persons with close personal contact with diagnosed or suspected cases have a moderate or high risk of contracting the virus. The ECDC published its risk assessment on mpox today (16 August 2024). According to the THL, Finland and other parts of Europe are well prepared to combat and diagnose possible cases of mpox. 

This autumn’s coronavirus vaccinations are starting in accordance with the individual schedules of the wellbeing services counties. Finland has received Comirnaty vaccines, which have been updated to target the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus as recommended by the European Medicines Agency EMA.

According to the information received by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a person with measles travelled on the Viking Line Gabriella ferry on Friday 26 July between 14:00 and 16:50 from Tallinn to Helsinki. The person may have spread the measles virus to other people during the journey.

In cooperation with the Finnish Food Authority, THL has prepared a recommendation on the target groups of avian influenza vaccination. The vaccine is offered to persons aged 18 or over who are at increased risk of being infected with avian influenza because of their work or other circumstances. 

Alcohol consumption continued to fall last year. According to THL’s latest statistics. the total consumption of alcoholic beverages was 8.7 litres of 100% alcohol per capita (aged 15 or over). This is 2.4% less than in 2022.

People lose the greatest amount of money to slot machines in areas where disadvantage is prevalent, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) study shows. The availability of slot machines or, the number of slot machines in relation to the number of residents, is also the highest in the most disadvantaged postal code areas, even though the number of slot machines has decreased significantly overall.

At the end of April 2024, more than 162,000 patients were waiting for access to non-urgent specialised medical care in the wellbeing services counties. The number of people waiting for treatment was more than 10,000 fewer than in December 2023.

THL believes that the government's proposed therapy guarantee for children and young people's mental health should be introduced in stages. First, it must be ensured that there are enough personnel across the country to help children and young people at a low threshold. At the same time, the range of services must be expanded so that the methods can be used to help all children and young people.

A text message has been sent on behalf of THL about the merger of THL's services and Kela's Kanta services. The message is a hoax. The services are not being combined.

As the latest statistics from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare show, only South Karelia and Helsinki are able to meet the legal standards for the provision of child welfare services. In the beginning of 2024, the staffing requirements of child welfare services were made stricter, limiting the number of children that one social worker can have as clients to 30. Previously, the number was 35.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is studying the wellbeing of families who will have a baby this year. Invitations to participate in the survey will be sent to up to 38,000 parents with babies.

Hanna Tolonen, Doctor of Public Health, has been selected as the Director of Research, Development, and Innovation at THL.

Amendments to the care guarantee last autumn have sped up access to physician's appointments in particular, says THL's recent statistical report. According to the report, in March 2024, patients were admitted to non-urgent outpatient medical care in primary healthcare within two weeks - and even within a week - notably more often than in March 2023.

There are 89,000 underage persons in Finland whose one biological parent or both parents have a serious substance abuse problem at some point before the child's adulthood. This represents 8.7% of all children. 42,000 children have a biological parent who currently has a serious substance abuse problem. Substance abuse is more common among fathers than mothers. This is shown by a register study carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's (THL) change negotiations have been concluded. THL achieved the target of EUR 12 million in annual savings during the 2024–2027 spending limits period. As a result of the negotiations, 93 people will be dismissed. The total number of staff reductions is estimated at 180. The rest of the cut will be achieved when people retire or fixed-term positions come to an end.

Information management in the social welfare has been developed in Finland over a long period of about twenty years. The principle is that information management is developed from the perspective of social welfare's own development needs, not from a technological point of view. The whole life cycle of client information is taken into account.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s latest statistics show that a child welfare notification was filed for one out of six children aged between 13 and 15 in 2023. While the number of these notifications has increased annually, the growth was exceptionally large in 2023.