The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently initiated its premier guidelines for self-care interventions concerning health. Significantly, these guidelines are not drafted to substitute the need for high-quality healthcare services or as an easy route to achieving universal health coverage. They are based on substantial scientifical evidence proving the benefits of certain self-care interventions that can effectively be performed outside the conventional healthcare sector.
Understanding Self-Care According to WHO
As defined by WHO, self-care refers to “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.” Promoting autonomy and improving health coverage quality, self-care interventions are seen as a powerful tool that can even empower vulnerable populations, giving them the agency to make informed decisions regarding their health.
Integral Areas of the Self-Care Intervention Guidelines
In its first publication, the set of guidelines predominantly focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights. A range of self-care interventions are advised, including self-sampling for sexually transmitted infections and human papillomavirus (HPV), home-based prediction kits for ovulation, self-management of medical abortion, self-injectable contraceptives, and self-testing for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Necessity of the Guidelines
Estimations reveal that by 2035, there would be a shortage of roughly 13 million healthcare workers in the world. Today, at least 400 million people worldwide do not have access to the most basic healthcare services.
| Fact | Figure |
|---|---|
| Global healthcare worker shortage by 2035 | 13 million |
| Current global population without access to essential health services | 400 million |
According to WHO’s foresight, in the near future, one-fifth of the world’s populace will be living in conditions experiencing humanitarian crises, which poses serious threats to their health, safety, and overall well-being. Consequently, self-care intervention guidelines could act as an effective first line of defense, preventing a global health crisis.
Significance of Self-Care Interventions
Implementing self-care interventions signifies a considerable step towards promoting greater engagement in health matters, besides nurturing self-efficacy and autonomy among self-carers and caregivers. Furthermore, these guidelines could bolster the accessibility of health services even for vulnerable populations.
The right to health is significantly enhanced under self-care interventions since it allows people improved access, control, and affordability over managing their health and well-being. Finally, self-care interventions can also promote equality by granting access to sexual and reproductive health services to those negatively affected by gender, cultural, political power dynamics, and forced displacement who, otherwise, struggle to make decisions related to sexuality and reproduction.