Empowering Digital Health

Consumers

Eija Hukka

Development ManagerNational Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland

eija.hukka@thl.fi

National Institute for Health and

Welfare (THL)

• Formed 1 January 2009 through

the merger of the National

Public Health Institute (KTL) and

the National Research and

Development Centre for Welfare

and Health (STAKES)

• Operates under the Ministry of

Social Affairs and Health

(MSAH)

National Institute for Health and

Welfare (THL)

• Mission:• THL promotes the well-being and health of the

population, prevents diseases and social problems, and supports social and health services.

• Funding• Total budget in 2009 is 96 million euros: 64%

from the State Budget and 36% from other funding sources

• Personnel• Permanent staff: 927, fixed-term project staff:

425

• Department of Communication and PR• 53 persons

Preparedness for A(H1N1)v

influenza epidemic (swine flu)

• National Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic in 2006

• MSAH and THL work closely with the EU Commission and the European Centre for Disease Control

• Instructions to the state provincial offices, hospital districts, educational authorities and places of education, municipal day care authorities and day care units

• Centralised communication to the public

Communication to the public

• Mass media (regular press

meetings, newsletters, press

releases, constant writing)

• Information to different target

groups

• Print materials (posters, leaflets)

• The influenza telephone hotline

• Outdoor campaign

• TV-spots, radio podcasts

Internet communication

• Web pages

• An information package to

the public & health

professionals

• Social media

• Banners to the main

channels of social media

e.g. Facebook, Messenger,

Suomi24 chat

• Videos published in the

YouTube

Lessons learned…

• Well annotated content improved

THL’s Google ranking after ”swine

flu” was added to the ontology.

• Important to use the terms people

understand (H1N1 = ”swine flu”)

• ”No single source of

information stands out or

stands alone.”

November 2009

Lessons learned…

• For the first time in history more people are

turning to the Internet than to health

professionals for health information

(manhanttanRESEARCH)

• Portals are important channels, but not enough

• Partnership and interactive communication with

citizens is the key

The digital health consumer

…wants to get the information:

• from multiple sources

• in understandable form

• from peers/family as well as

from experts

• whenever he/she needs it

• using whatever device

I

The digital health consumer wants a

second opinion

But the web is a mess…

Semantics is making the web more

intelligent and interoperable

Why semantics?

• To share common understanding of the

structure of information among people and

among computers

• To be able to reuse the content in different

settings

• To avoid ”re-inventing the wheel”

• To better take advantage of the social media

A second generation world wide

web

People are:

• Seeking information

• Sharing their own data &

experiences

• Connecting with each other

• Seeking information

published by peers

Anytime, anyplace and any device

• Personalized search that finds the right

answers

• The digital consumer chooses what to believe

and whom he/she shares with

• Self-management via web-based

communication system

• Facilitating interactive communication & virtual

communities

• Supporting decision & enabling transactions

Filling the gap between…

eHealth Care and the digital health consumer

Using social media in health

education

• Goal: Improve the H1N1

vaccination coverage among the

younger generation

• Channels: Facebook and IRC-

Gallery

• Online conversation, answering

questions, quizz, FAQ, videos

• cooperation with the Finnish

celebrities

• Partners: MSAH, THL, The Finnish

Student Health Service (FSHS),

The Finnish Red Cross, City of

Helsinki (Net Nurse –service)

The future is social & mobile

• A real-time web is the next logical step in the

Internet’s evolution.

-OM Malig, Giga OM (2009)

• eHealth information & services are becoming more

• Ubiquitous

• Interoperable

• Mobile (over 50% of world’s households carry a mobile

device)

• Location-based (location awareness)

The future is already here

”No one knows everything,

everyone knows something,

all knowledge resides in networks”

(Levy, 1997)