Juha Mikkonen

Bio: Juha Mikkonen is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Welfare & Welfare state. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 5 publications receiving 31 citations.

Intersectoral Action for Health: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions in the WHO European Region

Abstract: Human health is shaped by public policy decisions made not only by the health sector, but numerous other sectors and actors that influence people’s social, economic, and cultural conditions. Therefore, national health ministries cannot solve the root causes of many health problems without also engaging non-health sectors to implement healthpromoting public policies. For over three decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has actively endorsed the concept of “intersectoral action for health” as a key approach to address the most pressing health challenges at the national and international levels. At the international level, the need to engage non-health sectors in health promotion activities has been repeated in nine outcome documents of the global health promotion conferences organized by WHO between 1986 and 2016. However, calls to promote health through greater intersectoral action have not led to wide-scale and systematic implementation by national governments and jurisdictions. The challenges and opportunities to intersectoral action for health are rarely identified in a systematic way in the existing research literature. To address the current gap in knowledge, this dissertation was based on three key research questions: (1) How do the expert informants within the WHO Regional Office for Europe understand the concepts of “intersectoral action for health” and “governance for health?”, (2) What do the academic literature and key informants identify as the challenges and barriers to intersectoral action for health?, and (3) Which factors facilitate the implementation of the intersectoral action for health and what are the opportunities to promote health through such action in the future? The methods of this study included an in-depth review of literature and primary data collection that involved 28 semi-structured interviews with WHO Programme Managers, Unit Leaders, Directors, and Technical Officers working at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen. A thematic analysis of the key informant interviews focused on the challenges and opportunities to intersectoral action for health. The aim of this analysis is to shed light on the factors that are relevant to the policy process and dynamics of intersectoral policymaking. The findings of this study draw on the perspectives that the informants had gained by working with many of the 53 countries that comprise the WHO European region. The analysis involved a computer-assisted coding process with NVivo software and led to ten thematic challenges/barriers and to ten thematic opportunities/facilitators. Overall, this dissertation increases understanding of the political, technical, institutional, and managerial barriers to intersectoral action for health. In addition, it presents a systematic analysis of the factors that can facilitate intersectoral action for health and considers the future of intersectoral approaches in health promotion. Based on the empirical findings, the concluding section includes eighteen recommendations for strategies to overcome the challenges and barriers to the implementation of intersectoral

Social and material deprivation among youth in Finland : causes, consequences, and coping.

Abstract: Background: Social and material deprivation is associated with poor health, decreased subjective wellbeing, and limited opportunities for personal development, among others. This presentation outlines deprivation among low-income youth in the context of everyday life in Finland. The first aim of the presentation is to illustrate how youth with low socioeconomic status perceive the causes and consequences of their social and material deprivation. The second aim is to describe what kind of coping strategies youth employ to cope in their everyday life.

The Politics of Poverty in Finland

Abstract: The article reviews the politics of poverty in Finland. In comparison to many other Western countries, poverty rates in Finland are low and the country has been able to perform relatively well as measured by social and economic indicators. First, this article will give a short description of the Finnish welfare state and outlines how poverty and inequality are placed on the public policy agenda. Second, the article presents the Finnish authorities and research institutions that measure and monitor poverty rates. The latest key figures on poverty in Finland are provided from a national perspective as well as from a comparative perspective by summarising statistics provided by the OECD and UNICEF. In addition, key figures on the subjective financial well-being and the demographics of social assistance recipients are presented to broaden the understanding on economic disadvantage. In the end, some of the challenges and future prospects of poverty reduction in Finland are outlined.IntroductionThe eradication of absolute poverty has been one of the most important achievements of well-developed welfare states. From a comparative perspective, the Nordic countries1 have been the most successful nations in providing equal opportunities for all citizens regardless of their socio-economic background. Moreover, the relative poverty rates in the Nordic countries are among the lowest in cross-national comparisons (UNICEF 2012; OECD 2011b).Finnish social policy has been based on the universalistic principles of providing social protection for all and protecting citizens against various social risks, such as unemployment, old age, and work disability (NOSOSCO 2011; Niemela & Salminen 2006). These policy measures have not been aimed specifically at poverty reduction but to provide protection to the citizens against social risks that can lead to poverty (Kangas & Saari 2007).Finnish Welfare StateThe constitution of Finland states that 'those who cannot obtain the means necessary for a life of dignity have the right to receive indispensable subsistence and care' (Ministry of Justice 1999). The current institutional base of the Finnish welfare state was formed through a gradual process after the Second World War (Kangas & Palme 2009). However, it would be inaccurate to claim that the Finnish welfare state (or any other Nordic welfare state) is a result of thoughtful design and planning. Kautto states that the Nordic welfare states are 'the result of political bargaining, step-by-step reforms, and their imperfect implementation' (2010: 588). Over the decades, new benefits and services were incorporated to the Finnish welfare system (Niemela & Salminen 2006). These reforms have made the system more comprehensive but also rather complex for citizens to utilise, and to be aware of benefits they are entitled to receive. The complexity of the Finnish social security system is especially visible in autobiographical narratives written by low-income citizens (e.g. Larivaara et al. 2007).Along with the other Nordic countries, Finland has been able to attain high levels of economic and social performance despite the relatively high tax rate, generous social benefits, extensive public services, and universal policies including tax-funded higher education (Andersen et al. 2007). According to various economic and social indicators, Finland ranks among the top countries in the world. For instance, Saari (2011) has reviewed Finland's ranking on some of the well-known international indexes measuring different aspects of social and economic development, such as the Prosperity Index (1st in 2009), the Sustainable Society Index (5th in 2010), the Satisfaction with Life Index (6th in 2006), and the Competitiveness Index (7th in 2010).The resistance of the Finnish welfare system was tested when the country suffered a major recession and mass unemployment in the 1990s (Kiander 2005). As a consequence of the macro-economic crisis, numerous spending cuts were made in the public sector. …

The Ecology of Human Development

Abstract: This chapter explores the ecology of human development, those forces in the person's environment that affect and influence development. Urie Bronfenbrenner's model of the human ecosystem guides the discussion, making connections between children in families and in communities and the larger society that surrounds them. The human ecosystem model is much like the study of the natural ecology, focusing on the interactions between subjects at various levels of the environment as they affect each other. The interaction between individual and environment forms the basis of an ecological approach to human development. This view sees the process of development as the expansion of the child's conception of the world and the child's ability to act on that world. Risks to development can come from both direct threats and the absence of opportunities for development. Sociocultural risk refers to the impoverishment in the child's world of essential experiences and relationships.

Book Review: OECD, Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries:

Abstract: Será que a desigualdade de rendimentos aumentou durante os últimos tempos? Quem ganhou e quem perdeu neste processo? Este processo afectou todos os países da OCDE uniformemente? Em que medida é que maiores desigualdades de rendimentos são a consequência de maiores diferenças nos rendimentos dos trabalhadores e até que ponto são afectados por outros factores? Finalmente, como é que a redistribuição governamental através do sistema de benefícios fiscais afecta estas tendências?