Introduction:
Unintentional injuries are significant public health issue in Finland. They are the fourth most common cause of death and second most common cause of treatment in specialised healthcare. About 90% of fatal injuries and 80% of injuries leading to trauma take place at home and during leisure time. This calls for national coordination of long-term injury prevention.

Objectives:
The Finnish home and leisure injury prevention work aims at decreasing the number of serious and fatal home and leisure injurie by 25% by 2030. The long-term goal is that no-one dies of sustains serious injuries as a result of an accident.

Methods:
Finland has a long tradition of target-oriented injury prevention programmes. Safety at All Ages – Programme for the prevention of home and leisure injuries was published in 2020 by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and it extends over a decade, until 2030. The programme contains 89 measures to prevent accidental falls, poisonings, road traffic accidents, drownings, and fires. In addition, the role of family and friends in promoting safety has been included in the programme. The measures are organised according to different age groups: children and young people (aged 0-24), working-age people (aged (25-64) and older people (aged 65+).

Results:
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health leads a coordination group that oversees the programme. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) coordinates the implementation and monitoring of the programme together with expert groups that have been organised by types of injuries. The expert groups have been meeting twice a year to discuss implementation and co-operation around different measures. The expert groups exchange information and deepen the understanding and knowledge about preventing different types of injuries. Also, smaller “task forces” have been set up to further specific measures.

Conclusion:
Systematic safety promotion and injury prevention requires long-term programmes and active implementation. It also needs commitment from relevant stakeholders (e.g. ministries, expert organisations, non-profit organisations). It takes time to build networks and enhance co-operation between organisations.

Keywords: safety promotion policies, injury prevention, health promotion, action plan, Finland

Finnish institute for health and welfare (THL) - Helsinki - Uusimaa - Finland