ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the idea of public health evolved in Finnish health policy from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. The concept of public health (kansanterveys) largely replaced the previous key concepts of hygiene (hygienia) and racial hygiene (rotuhygienia) by the mid-1940s. The prevention of ‘national diseases’ (kansantauti) was defined as one of the main tasks in the effort to promote public health. The key role of these interconnected concepts was strengthened in 1972 when they were included in new legislation which gave all citizens universal access to primary health care. As the concept kansa could refer to the lower classes, the people, the nation, the population and sometimes even to the state, the terms remained open to different interpretations. This chapter focuses on how the sphere of public health evolved and how the inclusion of all citizens became the aim. Even though the trend was towards universalism, the chapter shows the inclusive and exclusive tensions in the changing use of the concepts. The connection between health and kansa – which linked nation, citizenship and belonging – appears to be a specific historical feature, as the recent vocabulary adopted in Finnish carries a more individualistic view of health.
