By Dr. Sarah Onyango, Senior Technical Advisor for Self-Care, Population Services International and SCTG Project Director; Martha Brady, Independent Consultant
Self-care interventions are among the most promising and exciting new approaches to improve health and well-being, placing people at the center of care and allowing individuals to be agents of their own health. Importantly, self-care provides the opportunity to enhance access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services, and enables individuals to exercise greater autonomy, power, and control over their health. When properly implemented and supported, self-care approaches have enormous potential to reshape the way health care is delivered, and the ways in which individuals seek care, and promote the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by enabling more people to access health services while reducing burden on health systems. Embedding self-care practices into the healthcare continuum has the potential to improve health and quality of life while supporting sustainable health systems.
We are witnessing a burgeoning array of self-care practices, policies, and interventions globally, making this an ideal moment to consolidate learning, share experiences, and document successes. To that end, the Self-Care Trailblazers Group (SCTG) produced a data-informed “State of Self-Care Report – Progress and Potential of Self-Care: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead” marking the progress and potential of self-care as applied to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH).
This report aims to take stock of the many achievements that have been made since the publication of the WHO Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health, and share examples of country-level and global initiatives. It is intended for a broad audience of country stakeholders, policymakers, funders, civil society actors, researchers, and implementing agencies. In this report we provide a snapshot of self-care efforts underway and highlight effective interventions. Our goal is to provide a resource for global and national advocacy, to inform implementation of self-care guidelines, as well as to disseminate and link readers to evidence and learning exchanges. The insights drawn from the work described in this report can be applied to a variety of settings and can be used to accelerate access to SRH and to advance Universal Health Coverage.
The report is the collective effort of many individuals and organizations at country and global levels. Case studies and country examples were written by a diverse group of individuals and institutions, working across a range of self-care interventions. Divided into four sections – Self-Care Basics; from Policy to Practice; Measurement of Self-Care; and Looking Ahead- the report links the reader to key resources, frameworks, and evidence. The ever-growing self-care movement is demonstrating the value of self-care; this report captures how self-care interventions can help advance rights-based, equitable access to SRH care for all. We hope it will inspire new ideas, continuous innovation, and increased investment in self-care.