Pekka Puska

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Pekka Puska, 2015

Pekka Puska (born December 18, 1945 in Vaasa ) is a Finnish professor and expert in public health , between 2009 and 2013 he was director general of the Finnish Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos ( THL , Institute for Health and Welfare), before he was head of the department for prevention and health promotion of the World Health Organization (WHO) and member of the Finnish Parliament .

Puska became known for a project in the province of North Karelia , in which he reduced the incidence of heart attacks in the local population. In the 1970s Finland was the country with the highest rate of heart disease in the world, and by 2006 the rate fell by 85 percent.

biography

Puska was born in Vaasa and studied human medicine at the University of Kuopio (now the University of Eastern Finland ). In 1974 he was awarded a doctorate in medicine, surgery , epidemiology and public health , after earning a master's degree in political science from the University of Turku in 1968 . In 1983 and '85 he was assistant professor ( adjunct professor) at the Universities of Helsinki and Kuopio.

Already at the age of 27, in 1972, Puska became head of the “North Karelia Project”, which he developed for more than six years.

From 1978 to 2001 Puska was professor and director of the epidemiology and health promotion department of the Kansanterveyslaitos ( KTL , National Institute for Public Health), between 1992 and 2000 he was also director of the department for health and chronic diseases and from 2000 to 2001 director general of the KTL. For two years he was Director of the Department of Non-Infectious Diseases and Health Promotion in the World Health Organization, and from 2003 to 2008 Director General of Kansanterveyslaitos . With the reformation of the authority to Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos , he changed to the post of director there. He retired from his position in 2013.

The North Karelia Project

In the past, the population of the Finnish province of Karelia was mainly engaged in logging and fishing . After the Second World War , parts of the country were transferred to veterans as compensation . These were often not qualified to practice arable farming and therefore preferred livestock farming , which, depending on the resulting resources, pork and dairy products , brought about a change in the composition of their food : The consumption of meat, butter and milk, which was proven to be a risk factor , increased sharply, so badly that men in the region were 30 times more likely to die from a heart attack than the rest of the country. Finland gained notoriety in the 1970s: the rate of such deaths was the highest in the world. Pekka Puska was also chosen because he was relatively young, as the Finnish Ministry of Health expected a long delay before any noticeable effect.

The project is still active today.

In addition to the following details, the project work consisted of the distribution of information material and educational work in schools and community centers. In addition to discussing eating habits, information was also provided about the damage caused by smoking .

Puska stew

In the course of the project, Puska and his research group developed a concept that went beyond simple lectures to educate people about risk factors for heart attacks: Puska's employees began to train the wives of the actual target group - middle-aged men - in handling food: Instead of butter, for example, vegetable oil should be trained Vegetables could be added to traditional dishes instead of only meat, and the salt content could be reduced. The health experts organized cooking evenings and distributed recipe books that used particularly regional recipes, enriched with vegetables and reduced by salt, meat and fat. The traditional stew only had three ingredients: water, fatty pork, and salt. In the new recipe, part of the pork was replaced with turnips , and potatoes and carrots were added. This was well received by the population, and the dish has been known as puska stew ever since .

Lay ambassadors

In order to improve the impact of the initiated changes in consumer behavior and to guarantee it in the long term, local opinion makers were appointed "lay ambassadors". These people were preferably already involved in community work or similar projects, were trained in a simple message - “Less salt and animal products” - and, provided with an ID, were encouraged to talk about food habits in their social environment. In total there were about 1500 such lay ambassadors.

Awards (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Römer and Janita Hämäläinen: The slim children of Seinäjoki , Spiegel online . Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  2. ^ A b c Dan Buettner: The Finnish Town That Went on a Diet , The Atlantic - Website, April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  3. ↑ thl.fi/who-we-are/pekka-puska , Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos - website. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Puska, Pekka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish health expert
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Vaasa , Finland