The 70th Session of the Nordic Council starts this week in Oslo and its agenda includes various topics, such as culture, environment, sustainable development, international cooperation, and other matters relating to the current challenges facing our welfare states.

By international standards, Finland has been successful in preventing chronic, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). That is why we can venture to set an example for others.

In December last year, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced the recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize. The prize goes to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in recognition of her career and her commitment to women and girls globally.

All children have a right to protection, no matter whether they are born in Finland or somewhere else.

The International Gender Equality Prize established by the Government of Finland was awarded on Thursday, 14 December to Angela Merkel.

Early childhood is full of new things, of joy, confusion, fatigue, and love. Family leaves are fathers’ right. They offer an opportunity to fathers to share everyday life with their children. It is important to use this opportunity as a man grows into fatherhood in interaction with his child.

In May 2017, a two-day event focusing on gender equality was organised for Roma women and men as part of the project Building a Roma Platform financed by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the EU.

Finland has made much progress in gender equality work. Our long history in promoting women's rights goes back to 1906 when Finland became the first country in the world to grant women full political rights.

Health technology could be the engine of new growth in Finland. The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes and IBM have concluded a collaboration agreement on developing a digital health and wellbeing ecosystem in Finland.