The Global Self-Care Federation highlights the need to take action on self-care to create better health outcomes for all

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On the occasion of International Self-Care Day 2021 and WHO Self-Care month, The Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF) underscores the importance of acting on self-care by engaging in positive and consistent self-care practices. Self-care produces overwhelming long-term benefits for your personal health, while alleviating resources for the most vulnerable. Adopting good self-care habits beyond the pandemic is one of the best ways we can continue to protect ourselves, our communities and our healthcare professionals.

GSCF’s 2021 International Self-Care Day campaign focuses on the #SelfCarePromise theme, encouraging people to actively take control of their own health by making a personal commitment to embrace a specific self-care action.

We’re delighted to see so many people make self-care promises to for example, better monitor their own health, increase their daily activity or improve their own health literacy,” said Judy Stenmark, Director General, GSCF. “We are seeing that people truly want to manage their own health, particularly during the pandemic. It is essential that we provide them with the adequate knowledge and resources to do so, which will help us to build more resilient health systems.”

Part of this will involve strengthening policy frameworks to ensure they are coherent and fully support self-care. GSCF’s forthcoming ‘Self-Care Readiness Index’ due to be published in September, will serve as a practical tool for self-care advocates to better understand and recognize the critical enablers of self-care, and help countries to integrate self-care into their national health policies.

Read GSCF’s policy statement calling for the integration of self-care into the healthcare continuum.

 

 

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