National Representative: Tuula Saarela (Finland)
The North-European Regional Meeting will be held on Nov.13th, 2021. Please see the information on MWIA webpage and join the meeting.
The Finnish Medical Women Association is an independent associate of the Finnish Medical Association. FMWA is an active member of The National Council of Women of Finland. The Association is led by the President, Dr. Paula Pihlaja and a six -member board. The membership number has been rather stable during the past years with over 200 female doctors as members. We do not register the age of the members but retired female doctors seem to be an important asset in our activities.
In Finland the majority of doctors are women. In 2020 nearly two-thirds of the doctors were women. Out of the specialized doctors 57% were women. The Association organizes both professional and cultural meetings. In 2021 we have held an annual business meeting and a hybrid professional meeting with Professor Riittakerttu Kaltiala lecturing on the gender issues among the children and the youth. Both live attenders and those with remote connection enjoyed the meeting. We are strengthening our website activity. International events have always been very popular among our members.
The FMWA has increased its investment in Women’s Bank in 2018. Women’s Bank is a volunteer network which raises funds to support women’s sustainable entrepreneurship and livelihood in developing countries. One board member encouraged the association to give direct financial support to school girls vocational training in a developing country.
The covid-19 pandemic has influenced the Finnish society in many ways. The number of coronavirus cases has stabilized by the end of August 2021 but still remains high. Our healthcare and ICU capacities have been sufficient so far. The allocation of resources to corona treatment and case tracing have led to treatment debt in other fields of health and dental care. The vaccinations have progressed smoothly and presently include 12-15 years old.
Although the number of fatalities is still rather low (1018 on Aug 25th, 2021, population 5,5 million) the restrictions and other consequences of the pandemic have many ways affected the everyday life of Finnish people. Remote studies at universities are causing psychological stress to the students. In work life, distant work, when possible, is still recommended until the end of this year. The many times postponed date of re-opening the society is hopefully getting closer.