With systemic prevention activities that are coordinated on a cross-sector basis, we avoid overlaps and reduce the workload as well as the need for resources and preventive activities. At the same time, institutions still need to carry out area-specific preventive activities such as fire safety campaigns and teaching safe sex.
Prevention is particularly important in the context of children and young people
Prevention focuses on exerting comprehensive influence on factors that steer the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the population and is based on the best available knowledge of the driving factors of behaviour or health problems.
The objective of prevention is considerably broader – to support the development, subsistence and wellbeing of the population, particularly young people.
Prevention is important throughout the life cycle of a person, but the main emphasis in the prevention of risk behaviour and mental health problems is on children and young people. The impact of efficient prevention is transferred to adulthood – it increases people’s wellbeing, improves subsistence and influences health behaviour.
The main factors in improving the efficiency of preventive activities:
- Permanent cooperation formats and clear responsibilities at the local and national level for planning and carrying out preventive activities and measuring the results
- Cross-sector agreements on common key indicators and standards with which to implement preventive activities and measure their effectiveness
- Preferring efficient interventions and contributing to the assessment of the impact of interventions
- Ceasing ineffective preventive activities
- Ensuring a long-term policy-wide financing strategy for cross-sector prevention
Estonia’s cross-sector prevention concept
The concept was completed in 2020 under the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior and in cooperation with prevention experts at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Justice, the Government Office, the Institute for Health Development, the Social Insurance Board, the Police and Border Guard Board, and the private sector and non-government sector.
The concept is based on the analysis of scientific literature and the current situation prepared by Stories For Impact OÜ in 2016. The analysis confirmed that the area of prevention is not clearly defined and coordinated in Estonia, it cannot be monitored as a coherent picture and there is no exact overview of which role individual institutions fulfil and how they contribute or fail to contribute to the system. As a result, preventive activities do not reach all the target groups, the implementation of activities is inhibited by a lack of resources and the different levels of prevention are not uniformly covered by interventions in all areas.
The concept provides a science-based guide for making decisions in the area of prevention and for allocating resources. The concept is primarily aimed at policymakers and decision-makers, but its scope of use is significantly broader, offering guidelines and inspiration to all the people working in this area.
On 21 April 2021, the ministers leading the cross-sector prevention effort – the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Education and Research, the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Social Affairs and the Minister of the Interior – agreed on principles that guide future cooperation and joint activities in the implementation of cross-sector prevention as well as support the implementation of the concept. These principles describe how national coordination is envisioned and which guidelines are applied to joint activities. In order to implement the principles of cross-sector prevention, a joint prevention council will be formed by merging three current government committees (the Child Protection Council, the Offence Prevention Council, the Government Committee on Drug Prevention). The agreement provides guidelines to policymakers and decision-makers at both the national and local level and complying with the principles presented in the agreement will supplement today’s area-specific policy decisions made in the area of administration of each ministry.
Statistics
- 40% of school students (15 years of age) have been drunk at least once in their life
- 21% of young people (15 to 16 years of age) have tried cannabis
- 59% of young people (15 years of age) feel that they can count on their friends when something is wrong
- 35% of students have experienced bullying in recent months
- 37% of boys and 19% of girls have bullied their co-students at least once
- 42% of young people (up to 15 years of age) have rated attending school as unpleasant
- In 2019, minors committed 4,881 misdemeanours and 1,182 criminal offences
Source: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children in Estonia (HBSC) 2017–2018; Police and Border Guard Board, 2020.
In the coming years, we will continue work to implement the principles of prevention, including:
- Establishing children and young people as a high-priority target group in cross-sector prevention.
- Preparing and approving a long-term policy-wide action framework for cross-sector prevention.
- Moving forward with the implementation of effective interventions in order to increase the achievement of positive results and avoid negative results.
- Creating better possibilities for measuring the efficiency of interventions.
- Focusing on increasing the competence of the implementers of interventions.
- Working more at the local level, i.e. with county cooperation bodies and local governments.
Last updated: 28.03.2023
