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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

In the frame of the Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region project, we participated in a workshop with the Ministries of Culture, Health, and Welfare of the Republic of Latvia to assess the current state of intersectoral collaboration between the culture and health. The NDPHS Secretariat director Ülla-Karin Nurm highlighted the role of culture in enhancing people’s health and well-being because culture is more than just an art form.

After 1.5 years of in-depth research and collaboration aimed at identifying gaps and needs in occupational safety and health data and practices, the MentalHealthMatters (MHM) project is nearing its end. Recently, in the heart of a cold winter in Trondheim, all the partners came together to discuss the areas most in need of improvement and to finalize the digital mental health support toolkit set for launch this spring. With just a few months to go, the team is also preparing for the project's culmination event.