11.5.2026 | The National Nutrition Council and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) are revising the food recommendations for families with children. The draft of the recommendations is open for public consultation until 10 June.

National Nutrition Recommendations On this page Who are the nutrition recommendations intended for? The nutrition recommendations are designed to be used in healthcare, meal planning for food services, food product development, communication, as w...

Frequently asked questions on health and social care financing What does the needs-based funding model for social and health care mean? What data does the funding calculation rely on? How does the number of diagnoses affect the funding allocated t...

Duty to notify violence against a child – Criminal procedure and cooperation between authorities when violence against a child is suspected The criminal procedure in a case of suspected violence against a child is initiated when the police are inf...

Quality report: Mediation in criminal and civil cases General description Mediation in criminal and civil cases is a voluntary, impartial, free-of-charge and nationwide service in which the parties to the case are given the opportunity to address ...

Reducing the number of tobacco outlets supports smoking cessation Published 26.5.2021 The views expressed in the blog posts are the writers' own and do not represent the official position of the institution. The objective of the Finnish Tobacco Ac...

Prevention of sexual violence – Sex education Sex education is an important means of promoting sexual well-being and preventing sexual violence. Learning takes place through informal and formal sources. As a professional, you play a key role in su...

Heat preparedness in childcare and schools On this page Who are the instructions for? This guidance is intended for directors, teachers, childcare workers, and other professionals in early childhood education and care and comprehensive schools who...

The syringe residue analysis study provides laboratory-verified information on the prevalence of substances used by injection and changes over time.

There is no single model for organising social and health services Models used in other countries to organise social and health care provide useful insights for developing Finland’s system, but they do not offer quick fixes. This is the conclusion...

What can we do to prevent drug-related deaths? Each year, between 200 and 300 people die due to drugs in Finland – some of them young adults. In 2024, there were a total of 247 drug-related deaths. Of those who died, 197 were men and 50 were women...

Data protection On this page you can find information about the processing of personal data by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and about citizens’ rights to their own data. Statutory duties of THL The duties of THL are defined i...

Steering of information management THL’s steering of information management in the health and social services sector establishes shared rules for defining, processing and utilising data. In practice, this includes, for example, THL defining nation...

4.5.2026 | 1 (7) 2024 Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos • Institutet för hälsa och välfärd • Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare Mannerheimintie 166, Helsinki, Finland • PL/PB/P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki • puh/tel +358 29 524 6073 thl.fi Interview sup...

Cultural diversity in mental health support On this page Who is this guidance for? This guidance is intended for professionals working in the social and healthcare sectors. Why was this guidance created? The purpose of this guidance is to support ...

Intervening in female genital mutilation (FGM) On this page Who is this guideline for? This guideline provides information on female genital mutilation as a tradition and guidelines for practical, preventive work. The guideline is intended for pro...

Quality report: Family law related social services Data description Statistical presentation The Family law services statistics contain quantitative information on agreements concerning child maintenance, custody, residence, rights of access and d...

Preventing domestic violence On this page Who are the guidelines for? This guideline is intended for professionals working in healthcare and social welfare services involved in client work. The multidisciplinary risk assessment guidelines are also...

Duty to notify violence against a child On this page Duty to notify violence against a child These guidelines are intended to support child welfare and other authorities working with children in situations where suspicions arise that a child is or...

Quality report: Child welfare Data description Description of statistic The child welfare statistics contain information on children and young people who have been placed in out-of-home care or who have been child welfare clients in open care. The...