Winter 2022 Newsletter - NDPHS

Winter 2022 Newsletter

21 December, 2022

This has been a tumultuous year, but hopefully you share our feeling at the Secretariat that the end of the year is not as grim as its beginning.

The events that started on 24 February hit our Partnership hard. Continuation of activities with one Partner became impossible. Among its consequences was that a large amount of funding that was supposed to finance most of the practical activities of the Partnership in 2022-2023 became unavailable. In addition, travel remained limited for the first part of the year, so we had to rely on electronic means of communication to address this crisis and in parallel continue doing our regular work.

But we persevered. And, as it starts to emerge now, this year has given us the impetus to find a fresh start, regenerate and grow.

We have just adopted the new NDPHS Strategy that will guide the Partnership’s work in 2023-2025. Change is the underlying theme of the Strategy. This Partnership will become better in providing useful  outcomes, communicating more efficiently, and engaging new stakeholders. Looking back at the year, we see that this change is already happening.

Striving to deliver more practical outcomes, our Partnership engaged in the new “Arts on Prescription” project, which over the coming three years will develop a guide for establishing Arts on Prescription schemes that is adaptable to the local and regional circumstances. In addition, we are developing and soon submitting for funding an NDPHS project that will produce tailored  solutions for improving the capacity of occupational safety and health professionals and SME owners and managers to deal with psychosocial risks at the workplace.

We have also worked to upscale our storytelling and communication. The NDPHS website, our main tool for communication, has been remade and is launched in its new form. We have started the podcast “Tune in Health,” to give voice to the various storytellers of our region and beyond, and especially the stakeholders not represented in the Partnership’s formal constellations.

In the second part of the year, after two years of seeing each other only online, our Expert Groups and governing bodies resumed in person meetings. The Committee of Senior Representatives met in Stockholm on 8-9 September, to discuss issues such as the future of the Partnership, the new NDPHS Strategy and the pressing themes of antimicrobial resistance and mental health.

Meeting the familiar faces in person was not only more enjoyable, but also more productive than online meetings. However, we need to be careful not to become a closed club and therefore engagement of new stakeholders has been high on our agenda this year and will continue in the future. Among this year’s achievements was the establishment of a network for cooperation of municipalities in the Baltic Sea region. Initially the network will focus on issues related to alcohol and substance use, and eventually the thematic scope can be expanded. We also appreciate that our role as Health Policy Area Coordinator in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has provided us with a perfect forum for engaging with other sectors and promoting the Health in All Policies approach.

Click here to read the Newsletter

Other News
Building a Healthier Workforce: New policy recommendations and a digital tool boost mental health for resilient teams
As it nears completion, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project MentalHealthMatters has released a Discussion Document with practical recommendations for improving workplace well-being. The project also unveiled a digital First-Aid Kit packed with research-backed resources to help navigate common psychosocial risks at work.
9 June, 2025
Listen on Spotify – “SAFE and Sound” podcast launch
Tune in Health! The Interreg Central Baltic project's "Solutions for Age-Friendly Employer" (SAFE) consortium is launching "SAFE and Sound", a sub-series on the NDPHS podcast "Tune in Health". Join us as we dive into what makes a workplace age-friendly, share success stories, and explore how to boost job opportunities for individuals aged 55 and above.
4 June, 2025
World No Tobacco Day: Concerning trends in use of nicotine products among youth in the Nordic and Baltic countries
Nicotine is a toxic and highly addictive substance found in cigarettes and other tobacco products. In recent years, new nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches, have entered the market, appealing particularly to children and young people. On World No Tobacco Day we join the global campaign to raise awareness about the harmful tactics of the tobacco industry and share a recently published report by Nordic Welfare Center highlighting the trends in nicotine product use among youth in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
30 May, 2025
Tiina Tambaum in the “Expert on Air”podcast: Is intergenerational cooperation a salvation?
Our Interreg CB project's SAFE expert Tiina Tambaum joined the "Expert on Air" podcast to discuss how older people can participate more actively in social life. The Tallinn University's podcast provides an overview of the current situation, future trends, and practical solutions that will help improve the inclusion of people in our society regardless of their age. Tiina Tambaum explores questions such as is older people involvement in work, community and political life sufficiently accessible? And if not, what could help them better apply their skills and knowledge and what is societies role in this process?
28 April, 2025
The MentalHealthMatters project culminates in Vilnius
In April, the MentalHealthMatters project held its final event in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the project partners shared key findings from this two-year-long initiative to improve mental health in modern workplaces across the Baltic Sea Region. The event, which coincided with the EUSBSR Policy Area Health Steering Group meeting, showcased the project's achievements in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Poland and explored future directions for Baltic Sea Region collaboration in this area.
16 April, 2025
What makes a workplace age friendly, and why should we evaluate it?
The nature of our occupation not only influences our aging process, but our evolving age also impacts the types of jobs we can pursue and how we perform. Our Interreg Central Baltic project SAFE seeks to improve employment opportunities for individuals aged 55 and above and will propose solutions for age friendly practices at work. During a project partner meeting hosted by the NDPHS Secretariat in Stockholm, we finalized the key steps in developing a self-assessment tool that will help companies to determine their age friendliness culture or a lack of it. The online tool will be piloted later this year.
26 March, 2025
World TB Day “Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”
Tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. On World TB Day we highlight an ongoing study led by Finnish Lung Health Association (FILHA) in close collaboration with the NDPHS Expert Group on HIV, TB and Associated Infections. The study is a part of the the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services financed project with an aim to increase knowledge and data about the latent TB infection situation in our region, provide evidence-based policy advice, improve cooperation between the countries in Nordic-Baltic region as well as Ukraine, and contribute to the WHO End TB Strategy.
24 March, 2025
All News >