At the request of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Move for Health Day will be celebrated on 10 May. In Finland the day will go by the name Liiku terveemmäksi – Motion är hälsa. This year the WHO Regional Office for Europe, WHO/EURO, has asked Finland to host the first European Move for Health Day. The theme is active workplaces, which is linked to last year’s European declaration on the prevention of overweight.
The National Public Health Institute hopes that Finnish workplaces will embrace the message of the Move for Health Day and increase exercise facilities at work as well as promote exercise during business travel. This is important, because in the last decades the physical strenuosity of work has decreased dramatically in Finland. In the Finriski survey carried out in North Karelia in 1972, less than a fifth (16%) of those surveyed had a sitting job, and over a third (36%) carried out strenuous physical work. Thirty years later, the Finriski survey of 2002 found that over half of North Karelians had sitting jobs, and less than six percent performed heavy physical work.
The decrease in everyday physical activity contributes significantly to overweight and obesity. As overweight increases, it undermines the health and functional capacity of the population, lifts health care expenditures and reduces the productivity of work. According to a recent estimate, insufficient exercise causes annual costs amounting to EUR 400 million in Finland. Everybody stands to gain from more exercise at work – employees and employers as well as the national economy. The quality of life is enhanced, absenteeism due to illness falls, and health care expenditures can be controlled.
The Move for Health Day hosted by Finland will start with the Active Workplace event at the National Public Health Institute. Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko, representatives of the WHO and the ILO, the Directors General of the National Public Health Institute and the Institute of Occupational Health, as well as representatives of Finnish employers, trade organisations and sports organisations will be among the participants in the panel discussion on the promotion of workplace physical activity.
The WHO/EURO declaration on the promotion of physical activity will also be made public at the event, and an award will be given to the employer which, according to the Finnish Sport For All Association, has promoted physical activity at work most effectively.
The main public event of the Move for Health Day in Finland is the healthy exercise day for work communities (Työyhteisöjen terveysliikuntapäivä) arranged by the Finnish Sport For All Association in the vicinity of the Kisahalli sports hall. The National Public Health Institute and its personnel will participate in this event in great numbers and challenge Finnish workplaces to promote workplace exercise.
More information:
Pekka Puska
PhD Director General National Public Health Institute
t. (09) 4744 8200
Antti Uutela
Health Promotion Research Unit National Public Health Institute
t. (09) 4744 8619
Active Workplace Award for UPM Raflatac Oy in 2007 (PDF 19 kb)