GA2024-CeremonialSession-WelcomeRemarks-Niina Koivuviita-FinnishMA-Oct2024

Welcome remarks by Niina Koivuviita, President, Finnish Medical Association at WMA
General Assembly Ceremonial Session, 18 October 224
WMA leadership, esteemed colleagues, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
The health sector and its ability to respond to current and future challenges relies
strongly on medical research, development and innovation. These, in turn, rely on an
overall high level of education, specialized competences and close collaboration
between academia, hospitals, research organizations and the pharma industry.
Especially in clinical research maintaining a positive public attitude to and trust in
research is another key factor. This brings us to the Declaration of Helsinki, which has
for 60 years and through numerous updates set the standards for ethical practices in
medical research involving human subjects.
Indeed, medical research advances by looking into previously unknown or inaccessible
processes, interactions and phenomena. Our ethical guidelines must, therefore, be
both unyielding in the protection they oRer and able to respond to our evolving operating
environment.
Finland has a long tradition of investing in health-related research. This focus has
propelled our research to the global forefront. We have a stated national goal of being a
trailblazer in personalized medicine and health care, and a top performer in medical
research and innovation.
This is also necessary, as medical and health care research are seen as essential
contributors to a cost-eRicient social and health care system, a major issue – or rather
the major issue – in current Finnish politics. The long trend of marked advances with
relatively small increases in funding which we saw from the 1970’s onwards has
plateaued out.
Now we need significant investment just to maintain the level we are at. Research and
innovation are the tools with which we strive to do better with less.
Equality and equity, the themes of yesterday’s Scientific Session, oRer relevant
guideposts also in research. One concrete example is research into cardiovascular
disease, where men are strongly overrepresented in study populations, yet the
treatment protocols are applied to both male and female patients with potentially
suboptimal outcomes.
Rapidly advancing digitalization is driving change also in medical research and
innovation. Artificial intelligence, gene and nanotechnologies and virtual and added
reality will all play a part in personalized health care and therapies. Innovative uses of
telehealth solutions are seen as a way to respond to an increasing need for services.
Medical research and innovation are becoming increasingly open and interdisciplinary.
We must cultivate a strategic awareness and agility in responding to signals and in
operating within international research networks.
Finland has some particular assets when it comes to medical research and innovation
activity. Firstly, we have an international reputation for being a research-oriented and
innovative nation with modern and high-quality health care services. We must not
neglect to allocate suRicient – preferably even ample – resources to broad and varied
medical research as this provides the fertile ground from which innovation grows.
Secondly, we have excellent and comprehensive, up to date register population data
which can be used and combined by researchers to discover correlations and
causalities. For example, a recent study utilized national health register data to look at
the eRiciency of high-dose influenza vaccines in reducing hospitalizations for over 65-
year-olds. Even though the study was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the results
obtained attest to the opportunities oRered by our unique register data and research
capabilities.
Thirdly, our entire society is based on strong trust. This trust is an invaluable lubricant in
all health care encounters as well as in securing voluntary research participation by the
public. The recent large-scale reorganization of our public health care system has
caused a decrease in the level of trust in our system’s ability to provide for all and
according to need. We need to focus on earning and maintaining this trust with
consistent reliability and transparency.
In terms of medical research, trust is extremely valuable. The ethical soundness of the
process and the clear reporting of results must be paired with timely and accessible
communication to the public. Misinformation on health themes is rife, especially on
social media outlets. Disinformation may be used for a variety of reasons to erode faith
in the ability of medical research to correctly identify causes and treatments for illness
and disease.
The relevance of medical research and innovation grows from the benefits it yields. We
need close collaboration and information sharing to translate these into better care and
better health for all.
Thank you.