Finland and Estonia continue to strengthen cooperation on digitalisation and innovation in social and health sector

On 21 August, Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Krista Kiuru and Estonia’s Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik signed a cooperation document. The cooperation document aims at further strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the field of digitalisation and innovation in the social and health sector.

Finland and Estonia have long cooperated in digitalisation and innovation matters in the social and health sector and in cross-border exchange of information. Although the cooperation document is not legally binding, it will further strengthen this work. Based on it, joint measures can be planned and monitored, and information and experiences can be exchanged regularly. 

An example of cooperation already in place is the exchange of electronic prescriptions, based on European prescriptions. Estonia and Finland were the first countries to start this cooperation. The electronic prescription facilitates people's lives, for example in situations where they are in another country for a long period of time or they forget to bring their medicine when leaving for a journey.  

In the future, cooperation will increasingly take place, for example, in the field of individual medicine, by increasing the opportunities for secondary use of health data across borders and by enhancing exchange of information on health and social security matters between countries.
 
Finland and Estonia also conduct significant cooperation to promote European digitalisation and innovation and other international cooperation. An example of this is the goal to create interoperable information systems in Europe.

Inquiries:

Veli-Mikko Niemi, Director-General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, [email protected]
Kaisa Lähdepuro, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, [email protected]