Presentation by Ulla Korpilahti at Safe Kids Worldwide Childhood Injury Prevention Convention (PREVCON) 29th of July 2017 Baltimore USA

1. PREVCON 2017 1
Strategic Planning: Using Action Plans
to Drive Progress in Finland
Ulla Korpilahti, Development Manager
Safe Kids Worldwide Childhood Injury Prevention Convention
29th of July 2017
Ulla Korpilahti

2. Finland`s national action plan for injury
prevention among children and youth
under 25 years
• Vision: No one needs to die or be injured as a
result of an accident.
• The aim: children and adolescents in Finland
live a stimulating and safe life; health losses due
to personal injuries must be at a much lower
level than they are today.
Since 2013 National Action Plan has been a part
of Target Program for Prevention of Home and
Leisure Accidental Injuries 2014−2020, under the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (MSAH).
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3. The content of National Action Plan
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The major causes of
health losses
Growth and operating
environments
Systems and structures
 Traffic accidents
 Poisonings
 Falls (including sports
injuries)
 Drownings and water safety
 Self-inflicted injuries
 Disciplinary violence
against children
• Home
• Child and health care clinics
• Early childhood education
• Leisure time environments
• Schools and educational
institutes
• Workplaces
• Defence forces and Non-
Military Service
• Coordination and
collaboration
• Monitoring and research
• Communication and
supporting professional
work for injury prevention

4. Main elements of implementation in THL
• Promoting safety point of view to many legislation and
national guidelines that have been in the pipeline (for
example the core curricula and basis of qualifications).
• Presentations about safety promotion of children and
youth in national and international conferences and
seminars
• Participating in several national experts and working
groups on safety promotion and injury prevention
• Producing articles to various handbooks and other
publications and developing tools for professionals from
safety issues and injury prevention
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5. Mortality due to unintentional injuries among
children and youth under 25 years in Finland
1972−2015
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6. Injuries among Finnish children and youth
under 25 years by statistics
• Unintentional injuries are leading cause of death: about 112
dies and 13 300 are hospitalized annually (2012−2015).
• Annually average of 89 persons commit suicide and about
700 persons requires inpatient care because of self-harming.
• Majority of the deaths (83%) occur to 15−24 year olds
Alcohol is a contributing factor in 29% of accidental deaths
• Main causes of death are transport accidents. Poisonings
are in second among 15−24 years and drownings in the age-
group under 15 years.
• Falls (inc. sports injuries) are causing the most of the periods
of inpatient care in hospital.
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7. Unintentional injury deaths among children
and youth under 25 years (average in 2012–
2015)
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8. Evaluation of National Action Plan 2010−2016
• In the 2010s the annual number of accidental injury fatalities
under 25 years has continued to decrease.
• Evaluation published in 2016 performed by representatives of
expert organizations covered 210 measures`s implementation
in 2010−2016 about half (103) had been completed or
progressed well. In 65 measures, action was still in its early
stages and 20 measures had remained unimplemented.
• An injury death or disability has a permanent impact on the
life of a child or an adolescent himself or herself and on family
and friends, also financial consequences.
The annual costs for inpatient care of persons under
25 (accidental injuries or self-harming) amount to
almost EUR 43 million in Finland.
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9. Inpatient care due to unintentional injuries
among children and youth under 25 years
(average in 2012–2015)
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10. Conclusions from Finnish Action Plan
• Majority of the deaths due to unintentional injuries and
commit suicides occur to 15−24 year olds. A significant
gender gap in the number of both accidental injury fatalities
and inpatient care periods  Notice the youth, specially
boys and young men!
• In future essential target areas are
- promotion of mental health
- prevention of poisonings
- falls prevention
• The new implementation paper for 2017−2021
is going to be compiled in 2017.
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11. Key factors and barriers for success of
National Action Plan
 Key factors: Systematic and focused work on:
1) prevention and monitoring of injuries
2) coordinating actions and leadership
 approved by the appropriate ministries and politicians, as well
as support by a variety of experts and projects
 Barriers: Missing the most important goals and measurable
concrete targets
 Working alone or in a small local group, lack of network
cooperation
 Lack of appropriate resources (leadership, management,
financial issues, strategy, coordination and monitoring)
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12. Key take-aways
1) What are the main most important targets on injury
prevention among children and youth in your area?
2) Who is responsible from coordinating, monitoring and
implementing injury prevention actions?
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13. Together we can make a difference!
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