In 2019, the city of Helsinki joined the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a prestigious global network of 70 cities committed to saving lives by preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)—such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes—and injuries. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Vital Strategies, cities in the network work on one of 14 proven interventions that significantly reduce exposure to NCD and injury risk factors.
The prevalence of morbidity and disease varies significantly between the districts of Helsinki, and the city government is eager to improve its ability to measure these differences. Helsinki’s project will utilize new and unique information collected by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) to better understand residents’ wellbeing and help address health disparities between population groups.
“Every resident of Helsinki must be able to live a good life, which is why the new information provided by the project is of utmost importance,” said Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen. “This cooperation with the Partnership for Healthy Cities network improves our opportunities for achieving our goals because we are able to learn from other cities.”
THL is cooperating with large grocery shops, sports organisations, gyms, chat operators and organisations that handle payment defaults. Through this project, THL will provide the City of Helsinki with refined analyses of the new data to supplement Helsinki’s existing regional data.
Data is regularly collected and updated on the following topics:
- food sales data
- non-payment records
- people with sports-related non-competition licences and competition licences
- information about discussion topics of young people in MIELI Mental Health Finland’s Sekaisin chat
- regional strengths and areas for development, for which information is collected from different sources.
This material allows for creating analyses about the City of Helsinki according to age groups and neighborhoods. Therefore, it is an important tool in studying segregation in the City of Helsinki. The collected and compiled data is analysed in more detail for the City of Helsinki to gain more accurate information on the disparities between residential areas. Preventing segregation is one of the objectives of the Helsinki City Strategy 2021–2025.
“The new and unique information collected from outside the service system and the monitoring model developed based on it will be an important addition to planning and resourcing the promotion of health and well-being,” says Senior Specialist Tommi Sulander.
About The Partnership for Healthy Cities:
The Partnership for Healthy Cities is a prestigious global network of 70 cities committed to saving lives by preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with WHO and the global health organization Vital Strategies, the initiative enables cities around the world to deliver a high-impact policy or programmatic intervention to reduce NCDs and injuries in their communities. For more information, visit https://cities4health.org(Link leads to external service) or https://partnershipforhealthycities.bloomberg.org/(Link leads to external service)