NDPHS promotes health and well-being

A meeting of the Committee of Senior Representatives of the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Wellbeing (NDPHS) will be held in Vantaa on 19-20 April. The meeting will be the first during Finland's chairmanship of the Partnership.

It will deal with a variety of issues, including project planning by the Expert Groups and the implementation of the EU Baltic Sea Strategy. The Expert Groups will focus on the prevention of communicable diseases, mainly HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, substance addiction, non-communicable diseases and issues of primary and prison health care. All ten Partner Countries are concerned, in particular, about lifestyle-related diseases, problems with substance abuse and communicable diseases.

Also on the agenda is the agreement on the Secretariat of the Northern Dimension Partnership, which most member states signed in November 2011. The Secretariat will gain legal International Organisation status. So far, Estonia, Latvia and Finland have adopted the agreement. The Secretariat is based in Sweden.

The NDPHS aims to prevent public health problems and promote healthy lifestyles. Its purpose is to strengthen the coordination of the health and social services sector and the exchange of information within it.

The Partnership has adopted a position on efforts to make the health and social services sector more visible in EU funding programmes during the forthcoming financial period 2014-2020. Until now, there have been few opportunities for financing projects in this sector.

The Partnership was founded in 2003. It represents a cooperative effort between seven EU countries, Iceland, Norway, Russia, the European Commission and eight international organisations.

Finland holds the NDPHS chairmanship for the years 2012-2013, with Germany as vice-chair.

This text is an English translation of the press release in Finnish published on 19 April 2012.

Olli Kuukasjärvi, Ministerial Adviser +358 (0)9 160 73168, 050 354 5925