Finland

Finland operates a dual surveillance system for AMR: FINRES for human health and FINRES-Vet for veterinary surveillance. The system is anchored by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), which has coordinated clinical microbiology data since 1992.

Surveillance Programme

FINRES-Vet - Finnish Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Programmes

Key Entities

EntityAbbreviationTypeRole
Finnish Institute for Health and WelfareTHLGovernment agencyHuman clinical AMR data, FINRES coordination
Finnish Medicines AgencyFimeaGovernment agencyHuman and veterinary AMU sales data
Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto)RuokavirastoGovernment agencyAnimal/food AMR surveillance, FINRES-Vet coordination

Human AMR Surveillance

  • Clinical microbiology data produced by FiRe laboratories and THL’s mycobacterial laboratory (collaboration since 1992)
  • THL compiles, interprets, and publishes annual Finres reports
  • The National Infectious Disease Register (NIDR) collects real-time data on 40 infectious diseases and resistant organisms
  • Open-access database: sampo.thl.fi
  • Latest National Action Plan on AMR released in 2025

Animal and Food AMR Surveillance

  • FINRES-Vet coordinated by Ruokavirasto
  • Covers industrial food production, meat, fur industry, companion animals, and horses
  • Fimea provides veterinary antibiotic sales data from pharmaceutical wholesalers

AMU Monitoring

  • Human: Finnish Prescription Register (FPR) maintained since 1993 - includes reimbursed dispensations with patient demographics. Since 2010, collects all prescriptions regardless of reimbursement. Hospital use tracked through wholesale data from Fimea
  • Animal: Sales data from pharmaceutical wholesalers collected by Fimea, compiled in FINRES-Vet reports
  • Legally grounded in Communicable Diseases Act (1227/2016) and Medicines Act (395/1987)