Phosphorous flame-retardant concentration in Finnish daycares dust and children's exposure.

Children in daycare centers are exposed to various chemicals present in indoor dust, including organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs). This study analyzed OPFR levels in dust from 18 daycare centers in Tampere, Finland, to assess children's exposure through dust ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. The OPFRs measured included tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP).

"It's very much part of this movement to undermine democracy": A qualitative study of European Union level opposition strategies against reproductive health and rights.

Despite increasing contestations of agreed global commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), our understanding of strategies of opposition in global health policymaking remains limited. This article explores the opposition to SRHR at the European level focusing on the decision-making institutions of the European Union (EU). The central research questions ask i) how SRHR opposition actors seek to influence EU institutions and ii) what challenges their actions pose for health policymaking at the EU level.

Climate change-induced shifts in the food systems and diet-related non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review and a conceptual framework.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between climate change, food systems and diet-related non-communicable diseases (DR-NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and propose a conceptual framework for food systems in SSA.

Design: A scoping review.

Eligibility Criteria: Studies included investigated the relationship between climate change and related systemic risks, food systems, DR-NCDs and its risk factors in SSA.

Is the EU steering national social and health policy making? A case-study on Finland's national reform.

As part of the European Semester, Finland received country-specific recommendations (CSRs) in 2013-2020 that encouraged the reform of national social and health services. These recommendations were part of efforts to balance public finances and implement public-sector structural reforms. Finland has been struggling to reform the national social and health care system since 2005.

Globalization, platform work, and wellbeing-a comparative study of Uber drivers in three cities: London, Helsinki, and St Petersburg.

Background: Globalization of platform work has become a challenge for wider social and employment relations and wellbeing of workers, yet on-location work remains governed also by local regulatory context. Understanding common challenges across countries and potential for regulatory measures is essential to enhance health and wellbeing of those who work in platform economy. Our comparative study on platform work analyzed concerns of Uber drivers in three cities with a different regulatory and policy context.

Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered.

When actions do not match aspirations - comparison of the European Union policy claims against what has been negotiated for health services, trade and investment.

Background: Obligations arising from trade and investment agreements can affect how governments can regulate and organise health systems. The European Union has made explicit statements of safeguarding policy space for health systems. We assessed to what extent health systems were safeguarded in trade negotiations using the European Union (EU) negotiation proposals for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the negotiated agreement for the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Global health without sexual and reproductive health and rights? Analysis of United Nations documents and country statements, 2014-2019.

Introduction: The initial International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 contains the first reference to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (SRHR). It has been considered agreed language on SRHR in future United Nations (UN) documents. However, opposition to SRHR in global forums has increased, including in conjunction with an increase in religious, far-right populist politics.

COVID-19 pandemic in Finland - Preliminary analysis on health system response and economic consequences.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe and analyze the impact of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 on health policy, social- and health system, and economic and financing system to prevent, treat, contain and monitor the virus in Finland.

Methods: This study provides early outcomes of health policy measures, social- and health system capacity as well as economic challenges in COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. This paper is based available documents and reports of different ministries and social, health and economic authorities collected online.

Finland: Health System Review.

This analysis of the Finnish health system reviews developments in its organization and governance, financing, provision of services, health reforms and health system performance. Finland is a welfare state witha high standard of social and living conditions and a low poverty rate. Its health system has a highly decentralized administration, multiple funding sources, and three provision channels for statutory services in first-contact care: the municipal system, the national health insurance system, and occupational health care.

Policy space for health and trade and investment agreements.

New trade agreements affect how governments can regulate for health both within health systems and in addressing health protection, promotion and social determinants of health in other policies. It is essential that those responsible for health understand the impacts of these trade negotiations and agreements on policy space for health at a national and local level. While we know more about implications from negotiations concerning intellectual property rights and trade in goods, this paper provides a screening checklist for less-discussed areas of domestic regulation, services, investment and government procurement.

"Trade creep" and implications of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement for the United Kingdom National Health Service.

The ambitious and comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP/TAFTA) agreement between the European Union and United States is now being negotiated and may have far-reaching consequences for health services. The agreement extends to government procurement, investment, and further regulatory cooperation. In this article, we focus on the United Kingdom National Health Service and how these negotiations can limit policy space to change policies and to regulate in relation to health services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health industries.

Undermining patient and public engagement and limiting its impact: the consequences of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 on collective patient and public involvement.

Patient and public involvement has been at the heart of UK health policy for more than two decades. This commitment to putting patients at the heart of the British National Health Service (NHS) has become a central principle helping to ensure equity, patient safety and effectiveness in the health system. The recent Health and Social Care Act 2012 is the most significant reform of the NHS since its foundation in 1948.

Commercial influence and global nongovernmental public action in health and pharmaceutical policies.

Nongovernmental public action has been effective in influencing global agenda-setting in health and pharmaceutical policies, yet its record in influencing solutions to the problems identified has been notably more limited. While trade policies have been particularly resistant to change, more substantial changes are observable in global health policies and global health governance. However, some of the directions of change may not be conducive to the democratic accountability of global health governance, to the wise use of public resources, to health systems development, or to longer-term access to health care within developing countries.

The state of Health in All policies (HiAP) in the European Union: potential and pitfalls.

Health in All Policies (HiAP) was formally legitimated as a European Union (EU) approach in 2006. It resulted from more long-term efforts to enhance action on considering health and health policy implications of other policies, as well as recognition that European-level policies affect health systems and scope for health-related regulation at national level. However, implementation of HiAP has remained a challenge.

The impact of economic globalisation on health.

The analysis of the impact of economic globalisation on health depends on how it is defined and should consider how it shapes both health and health policies. I first discuss the ways in which economic globalisation can and has been defined and then why it is important to analyse its impact both in terms of health and health policies. I then explore the ways in which economic globalisation influences health and health policies and how this relates to equity, social justice, and the role of values and social rights in societies.

The future of European health policies.

The role of the European Union in health policies is changing. The European social model is under threat due to shifts in E.U.

Trade and health: is the health community ready for action?

There are greater tensions than ever before between promoting trade and protecting health. Human health could lose out to trade liberalization unless the health community fights its case

The World Health Report 2000: World Health Organization health policy steering off course-changed values, poor evidence, and lack of accountability.

The World Health Report 2000 on health systems has raised concerns about its political biases, its methods and indicators, and its lack of reliable data. Tracing the origins of the Report, this article argues that it counteracts many of the concerns that gave rise to preparation of the Report in the first place. The mutually agreed-upon value-base, expressed in the Health for All strategy, has been largely abandoned.