Self-care for health and well-being

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote and maintain their own health, prevent disease and cope with illness, with or without the support of a health or care worker.

Self-care recognizes people as active agents in managing their own health care through lifestyle choices and interventions that complement care given in formal health facilities. Self-care includes health promotion; disease prevention and control; caregiving to dependent persons; rehabilitation; and palliative care. Tools and actions that can support self-care can comprise evidence-based interventions including drugs, devices and diagnostics that can be accessed fully or partially outside formal health services, as well as informed actions people take such as healthy life-style choices and health promoting behaviours.

WHO recommends self-care for every country and economic setting, as a critical path to reach universal health coverage (UHC).

Self-care can:   

• provide agency and autonomy to individuals and communities as active agents in managing their own health and well-being;
• lead progress towards UHC and better health and well-being outcomes; and
• lead to more efficient use of resources for health.

Self-care is a core component of protecting and promoting people’s right to health by supporting the needs and rights of individuals through a people-centred approach that is grounded in human rights and gender equality. The WHO self-care framework acknowledges that people are increasingly accessing health information, products and services beyond traditional health facilities. It highlights that self-care does not replace the health-care system but provides additional choices and options to individuals, within the context of a safe and supportive enabling environment.

This requires supportive laws and policies, health financing, regulation of the quality of products and interventions, education that promotes the participation of individuals, and assurances of privacy and confidentiality.

Human rights considerations are built into self-care interventions, helping to reduce violence, coercion, stigma and discrimination by improving each person’s ability to exercise their right to health, information and independent decision-making.

The accountability of the health system, private sector and governments is, therefore, essential to ensure that people who need it feel supported with self-care rather than pushed towards further financial burden or isolation.

This is a holistic approach to the health and well-being of each person, with the flexibility to take into account their individual circumstances, needs and priorities across their life course.

The world is experiencing an increased number of conflicts, climate-related emergencies, humanitarian crises and pandemics and an increase in biodiversity loss. In fragile settings, the health needs of the most vulnerable – including people with disability, Indigenous people, and underserved women, children and young people – are disproportionately affected.

In situations where existing health systems are stretched, damaged or destroyed, there is often an increased demand on individuals and communities to manage their own health.

Of note:

• 300 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection;
• approximately 1 in 5 children in the world – around 400 million – are living in or fleeing from conflict zones and humanitarian crises, in which health systems are challenged to deliver essential services; and
• disease outbreaks are a constant global threat.

Self-care interventions can provide valuable, additional options to the usual health facility- or health worker-based services, as part of a supportive health system.