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1. Governance

2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

The legal basis for young people’s health and wellbeing is grounded in the Health Care Act (in Finnish, also available in Swedish). The objectives of the Act include ‘reduc[ing] health inequalities between different population groups’. Regarding young people, the Act outlines school-based health care, student health care (including psychological services), and providing access to health care for children whose legal guardians are unable to care for and rear them.

The Health Care Act promotes and maintains the population’s health and welfare, work ability, functional capacity, and social security. It also:

• reduces health inequalities between different population groups.
• ensures universal access to the services required by the population and improves quality and patient safety.
• promotes client-orientation in the provision of health care services.
• improves the operating conditions of primary health care, and strengthens cooperation among health care providers, local authorities, and other parties that promote health and welfare and provide social and health care services.

The legal framework for health policy is further outlined in the Constitution of Finland (in Finnish, also available in Swedish), the Act on the Promotion of Sports and Physical Activity (in Finnish, also available in Swedish), the Municipalities Act (in Finnish, also available in Swedish), the Youth Act (in Finnish, also available in Swedish), the Student and Pupil Welfare Act (in Finnish, also available in Swedish) and relevant decrees issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Health promotion is also regulated by legislation concerning infectious diseases, tobacco control and alcohol.

Main actors

The main governmental authority for health and wellbeing (including young people’s health) is the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Other relevant ministries include the Ministry of Education and Culture. 

Key agencies functioning under the administrative sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health include the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira), which supervises the social and health care sector and supports the functions of the Regional State Administrative Agencies. These agencies assist local authorities in regional health protection. Relevant expert agencies in the field of youth health care and wellbeing include The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Youth Work Centres of Expertise. It should be noted that from the beginning of 2026, the majority of the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) and Regional State Administrative Agencies’ responsibilities will be transferred to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency (see Glossary).   

At the local level, both wellbeing services counties and municipalities have designated responsibilities in the field of wellbeing and health, outlined in more detail below.

General distribution of responsibilities

According to the Health Care Act, health promotion comprises actions that aim to maintain and improve health, work ability and functional capacity. It also includes influencing determinants of health, preventing illnesses, accident injuries and other health problems, strengthening mental health, and reducing health inequalities between different population groups. In addition, it involves systematically targeting resources in ways that promote better public health. At the national level, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is primarily responsible for guiding and overseeing health promotion in Finland.

Reducing health inequalities is one of the main objectives of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The Ministry of Education and Culture, in turn, is responsible for creating favourable conditions for sport and physical activity, as well as for developing sport policy. It promotes physical activities, for example, by allocating state subsidies to national sport organisations and institutes, and by financing sport and health sciences. 

At the regional level, wellbeing services counties (see Glossary) are responsible for primary health care. This includes health counselling and check-ups, oral health care, medical rehabilitation, occupational health services, open nursing care, home health care, hospital and home hospital care, mental health care, and treatment of substance abuse and addiction, when it is not part of specialised medical care. 

The state is responsible for funding health, social, and rescue services within the counties, as well as giving necessary guidance for implementing planned actions. Private and third sector health care institutions complement public health and social care services. The City of Helsinki and the Åland Islands are not part of the wellbeing services counties and are responsible for organising health services in their respective areas. 

According to the Child Welfare Act (section 12, in Finnish, also available in Swedish), both municipalities and wellbeing services counties are required to create a plan to promote the wellbeing of children and young people. The participation of young people in decision-making processes is grounded in the Act on Wellbeing Services Counties, which states that each wellbeing services county must have a youth council or an equivalent body to represent young people’s views. 

The change from municipal administration to a county-based model in 2023 was part of a large health and social services reform in Finland. For more information, read the Finland: Health system summary, (Tynkkynen, Keskimäki, Karanikolos & Litvinova, 2023), published by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. 

According to the Act on the Promotion of Sports and Physical Activity, municipalities are responsible for:

1. ‘providing physical exercise services and organising physical activities that promote general health and wellbeing with due regard to the various target groups’.
2. ‘supporting civic action including club activities’.
3. ‘constructing and maintaining facilities for physical activity’.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is an independent expert agency working under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. THL gathers and produces information based on research and register data and provides expertise and solutions to support decision-making. 

According to the Ministry of Education and Culture, the ‘[y]outh work centres of expertise develop and promote competence, expertise and communications in the youth sector. The Ministry of Education and Culture develops youth sector services and expertise by supporting the Youth work centres.’ See YouthWiki/ Finland 1.4 Youth policy decision-making for more information regarding the current Centres of Expertise for the programme period 2024–2027.

Cross-sectorial cooperation

There is a consensus that health promotion must be based on cross-sectoral and cross-regional cooperation. Legislation and national policies reflect this approach. For example, the Child Welfare Act states that the previously mentioned plan to promote the wellbeing of children and young people can be created between two or more municipalities. For more information, read Youth Wiki/Finland: 4.2 Administration and Governance.

The National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2024–2027 (VANUPO) underlines that it will promote the ‘cross-administrative management of the measures improving young people’s wellbeing’, in alignment with the goals set in the Government Programme. In addition, the National Strategy for Children, published in 2021, emphasises that it ‘must support each government’s implementation plan and parliamentary cooperation related to it, and strengthen cooperation and the coordination of expertise between the authorities and experts representing different sectors of society’.

According to the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities publication State of cooperation between municipalities and wellbeing services counties – Report on the tour of municipalities and counties in 2023 (written by Liisa Jurmu, Jarkko Majava, Sami Niemi, Marianne Pekola-Sjöblom, and Johanna Sorvettula), the reform on health and social services emphasises people-centred service structures and creating cooperation between primary and specialised services, as well as among health care, social welfare, and rescue services. 

Cooperation between municipalities and wellbeing services counties is considered essential for achieving these goals. Regarding young people, the report states that ‘[i]mportant areas of cooperation can be found at the interfaces between education and health care and social welfare services, such as student welfare, youth services, culture and sports. Effective cooperation is also needed in fields such as security and preparedness, employment, migration and integration.’ More information regarding the implementation of cooperation between wellbeing services counties and municipalities can be found in the report. 

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s 2024 publication National Objectives for the Organisation of Healthcare and Social Welfare outlines that cooperation is central to the national objectives for health care and social welfare for 2023–2026. According to the publication, cooperation is promoted particularly through the following objectives (out of 8 objectives in total): 

Objective 5: ‘There are well-functioning cooperation structures that emphasise prevention in place between wellbeing services counties, municipalities and other actors.’

Objective 6: ‘A flexible and crisis-resilient service system safeguards the health, well-being and adequate income of the population throughout the country.’

Objective 8: ‘Information management and digitalisation planned nationally and by cooperation area support the attainment of objectives and resident-oriented renewal of operations.’