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