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Sitra’s 40th anniversary year begins

To mark its 40th anniversary, Sitra has acquired the contents of The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim’s health-care library and will open it to the public free of charge until the end of 2007. The health-care library portal is a comprehensive and up-to-date source of medical and health-care information.

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Free health-care library is opened to the public

To mark its 40th anniversary, Sitra has acquired the contents of The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim’s health-care library and will open it to the public free of charge until the end of 2007. The www.terveyskirjasto.fi portal is a comprehensive and up-to-date source of medical and health-care information.

“One of Sitra’s tasks from the very beginning has been to promote the well-being of Finnish people. We wanted to launch our anniversary year with something tangible that would benefit everyone in this country. The health-care portal provides reliable, current and easily understandable medical information,” says Esko Aho, President of Sitra.

The health-care portal is compiled and maintained by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim, which celebrated its 125th anniversary last year. The Duodecim medical guide and other contents of the health-care portal are based on textbooks and medical guidelines published by Duodecim. The contents of the portal are verified by leading medical experts. The main partners for Duodecim in content production are the National Public Health Institute, the Pharmaceutical Information Centre and the Finnish Red Cross.

“Duodecim has been bringing the best medical information to the public since 1889, which is when the magazine Terveydenhoitolehti (Health Care Journal) was first published. The Society continues on the road paved by its founders, only the distribution channels are new,” says Professor Kimmo Kontula, who chairs Duodecim.

The health-care library now available to everyone has been developed specifically to be used by the general public since the turn of the millennium. Through a project subsidised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which ran from 2005–2006, the contents of the portal were incorporated into municipalities’ and hospital districts’ own web services.

“The collaboration of Duodecim and Sitra in 2007 is a remarkable step and enables a continued test use of the website contents on a national level. It also allows us to receive feedback on the contents and the feasibility of the services and to continue improving our collaboration with municipalities and hospital districts,” says Pekka Mustonen, Managing Director of Duodecim Medical Publications Ltd.

The future aim is to integrate the contents into the basic electronic health-care services. Sitra will continue to invest in the project in the future in order to to guarantee that searching and managing information will become part of the primary e-services aimed at all citizens.

“Duodecim is a key partner in this endeavour, because the outstanding competence it has acquired over decades of dedicated work in this field will make it possible for us to break into both Finnish and international markets,” says Hannu Hanhijärvi, Executive Director of Sitra’s Health Care Programme.

Sitra’s anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year

Sitra wants to use the opportunity of its 40th anniversary year to improve Finnish people’s well-being and boost the innovation activity in the international environment.

The year will see a host of seminars and other events and it will culminate in the publication of Sitra’s history in November and a high-level seminar in December, envisioning the future of the global operating environment.

Sitra’s anniversary year will also be marked by an emblem symbolising the four decades of Sitra’s work for the benefit of Finland and Finnish well-being.

Further information

Hannu Hanhijärvi, Executive Director of Sitra’s Health Care Programme, tel. 050 537 8797
Laura Niemi, Sitra’s Communications Manager, tel. 050 373 8602

Kimmo Kontula, Chairman of the Board, Duodecim, tel. 0500 850 260
Ilkka Rauramo, General Secretary, Duodecim, tel. 050 336 6635
Pekka Mustonen, Managing Director, Duodecim Medical Publications Ltd, tel. 050 595 9730