Social services including care for older people

The action plan to combat prostitution and trafficking in human beings can be seen as part of broader efforts to prevent and combat men’s violence against women.

The Swedish government wants to increase exports of health and medical care, social services, pharmaceuticals, biomedicine and medical technology. These areas are already an important component of Swedish exports, but their share can be increased. Swedish social services and health and medical care produce world-class medical results. To make use of the available opportunities and potential, a new, active working group will be established under the Team Sweden concept, called ‘Team Sweden Care and Health’.

In the Budget Bill for 2018, the Government presents a range of proposals to increase security and welfare in Sweden. Here you can learn more about the proposals related to the areas of responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, together with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, has invited heads of state or government from EU Member States, as well as over 30 different organisations and actors, to attend the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth in Gothenburg on 17 November 2017. More than 180 participants have been invited to the summit.

In recent years, the number of EU citizens who are temporarily in Sweden has risen. These people are in a vulnerable situation. Most of those who come to Sweden to beg do so of their own volition. But organised crime with a link to begging is also prevalent, such as trafficking in human beings and extortion.

It is two years since Romania and Sweden signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and the exchange of knowledge about children’s rights, gender equality and social welfare.

On 17 November 2016, the Swedish Government decided on the written communication ‘Power, goals and agency – a feminist policy for a gender-equal future’ (Govt Comm. 2016/17:10). In the communication, the Government presents the focus of gender equality policy with a new goal structure, a gender equality agency and a ten-year national strategy to prevent and combat men’s violence against women.

Health and social care of elderly women and men is a central part of welfare policy and affects many people.

The reception of large numbers of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in 2015 involved a considerable undertaking on the part of the municipalities to achieve a good long-term system of reception in which account is taken of children’s rights. Although the number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Sweden has decreased, Sweden will probably receive a large number of unaccompanied girls and boys in coming years too.

The Government has tasked the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society with creating a digital platform containing information in relevant languages about health and gender equality for newly arrived children and young people. The assignment – for which SEK 5 million has been set aside – will be conducted in collaboration with the internet-based youth clinic UMO.