Prioritisation of an individual’s unique needs is essential in increasing safe, affordable, confidential and quality sexual reproductive health services and information.
Self-care has the potential to drive better health outcomes by prioritising the unique needs of marginalised populations while keeping the power of healthcare firmly in the hands of individuals.
Everyone has their definition of self-care. To many of us, it could be having enough sleep, a skincare routine, a staycation, a day at the spa or even exercising and eating healthy.
However, according to WHO, self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.
Self-care is an intervention that has been in existence for a while now.
You probably know of at least one person who has diabetes and does insulin self-injection, one who has done HIV self-testing or even one who has tested for pregnancy in the comfort of their own home.
These are just but a few examples of some of the self-care interventions that have been in place. While practising self-care you have or will come to the realisation that you are in control and have the power to decide over your body.
Self-care became more prominent during the onset of Covid-19.
The pandemic caused a major disruption in the healthcare systems.
Not forgetting the restrictive measures that were in place.
The health systems around the world were overburdened and overstretched, priority shifting to curbing deaths and the spread of Covid-19 only allowing room for emergencies.
Self-care through telehealth, hotlines and the utilisation of technology became a relevant approach to ensure individuals were able to access essential healthcare services and information.
Self-care has untapped potential for the realisation of Universal Health Coverage.
Despite efforts being made globally to achieve UHC, half of the world’s population still lacks access to essential health care services (WHO, 2017).
Self-care allows for individuals to exercise their right to bodily autonomy by allowing users to be active partners in their health and not just recipients of healthcare.
It is also efficient and convenient; this means reduced cost in accessing services, increased access to services for individuals and enhanced privacy.
This concept is still a cause for alarm for health care providers. They might be concerned that this new intervention will render them irrelevant in no time.
However, self-care interventions will task shift and actually ease the pressure off healthcare systems, which will help in efficiently using the already limited resources and workforce.
Health professionals will remain to be relevant as they are key partners in promoting effective self-care, equipping people to follow best medical practices and driving awareness of how individuals can safely contribute to their own health outcomes.
Self-care is not a competition to outdo the healthcare providers but a holistic complementary effort towards achieving UHC.
It is therefore essential that communities and healthcare providers embrace self-care and other innovations that will drive solutions to the current and emerging healthcare challenges
To achieve responsive and resilient healthcare systems, there’s a need to advocate for the expansion of safe and effective practices of self-care including building the confidence and self-efficacy of communities for better health management.
The government and stakeholders should create an enabling legal and policy environment for the institutionalization of self-care as part of the health system.
Additionally, efforts to domesticate the WHO consolidated guidelines for self-care interventions for health should be put in place.
Advocacy officer, Reproductive Health Network Kenya
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
