The mission of the National Public Health Institute, as stated in the constitutive act (828/81), is to promote public health and to prevent diseases.
The institute monitors, controls and studies public health and the occurrence of diseases, and participates in any necessary testing and reporting operations to promote the health of the Finnish people. One of the institute’s statutory responsibilities is to obtain and distribute the vaccines needed for public vaccinations and to control their quality. Furthermore, the institute is responsible for conducting screening projects as required by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and for providing forensic laboratory services.
To fulfil its mission, the institute works to provide the best available information for decision-makers, actors in various fields and individual citizens in order to support them in their health-related decisions.
The National Public Health Institute monitors the health of the population and the factors influencing it. Additionally, it develops tools to promote public health and distributes information to decision-makers, actors and individual citizens alike. Together with the relevant authorities, organisations and health experts, the institute participates in the national and international task of health promotion. The institute maintains respective monitoring and information systems. It also modifies data, whether collected by itself or some other party, for the use of decision-makers and other actors. By its national vaccination provision, the institute provides the Finnish people the best possible protection against infectious diseases.
During 2003, the National Public Health Institute continued its operations with great success. We published a total of 835 reports from our various fields and, in our expert capacity, participated in the development of health promotion and preventive health care, in both national and global settings. We have realised the majority of our required goals.
Last year, we had a considerable number of important events, both internal and external. The following paragraphs present the highlights of the year 2003.
A new Director General was nominated to the National Public Health Institute. Professor Jussi Huttunen resigned from this position in the end of August. In August, from among 20 applicants, the Finnish Council of State nominated Pekka Puska (M.D., Ph.D., M.Soc.Sc) as the new Director General of the National Public Health Institute. Dr. Puska started in his new position in December.
The renovation of the institute’s premises in Ruskeasuo, Helsinki continues. The main building was finalized in September. The renovation will go on until 2006. The work in progress is a considerable impediment to the operation of the institute. In our financial planning for the next few years, we must also prepare for other significant extra costs. Throughout 2003 and 2004, our budget will be burdened by costs arising from the reform of the National Vaccination Programme. A further source of extra costs is the implementation of a new salary system, which will continue over the next two years. Last year, we made preparations to receive a staff of 40, who are being transferred from the Turku Research Department of The Social Insurance Institution of Finland.
Also last year, the directors of the National Public Health Institute, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and The National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) published a joint report regarding the development of cooperation between these institutes. With the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, we organised a seminar about decreasing the health variations in different demographic groups. This issue was also included in the target agreement for the year 2004. The institute has launched a separate research programme on this subject, involving the cooperation of several our departments. We participated in the Health 2015 National Health Programme in a variety of ways.
The reform of the National Vaccination Programme progressed according to plans, and preparatory work is now well under way. The substantial threat posed by the SARS epidemic was a major planning and communication task, which the institute completed very successfully. Last year, we also worked with other focus areas on the prevention of infectious diseases. We engaged in the development a monitoring system for infectious diseases and an information system for epidemics, as well as the prevention of antibiotics resistance. Research on the microbial etiology of chronic national diseases was conducted, and preparatory work for protection from biological hazards was carried out.
The main focus areas of environmental health research were the development of risk assessment, the health hazards caused by building mould and community air pollution, as well as health issues related to drinking water. Also last year, the task of the prevention of chronic national diseases focused on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, mental disorders, and disorders of the back and extremities. At the end of the year, the National Public Health Institute negotiated participation in the regional diabetes prevention programme (D2D) together with respective hospital districts and the Finnish Diabetes Association. The three-year programme for analysing the causes of the increasing number of allergies continued during the year. The institute also participated in the preparatory work for the national alcohol programme and was the main organiser of the World Tobacco Conference held in Helsinki in August. At the time of the conference, WHO’s new Director-General J.W. Lee visited the National Public Health Institute, only two weeks after his nomination.
The institute took part in the preparation of the national Information 2005 programme. The data of the national Health 2000 research was being prepared, and the first results were published. Our extensive work with different data sets for monitoring public health continued, as information was published and data was utilized in various settings. We planned our communication strategy and worked on our new Internet pages and services.
International cooperation was active as usual. We maintained cooperative partnerships in the Nordic countries, EU countries and in the European Commission, in the USA, in the WHO and in various international scientific organisations.