24 June – 24 July

Self-Care Month starts on 24 June and ends on 24 July. 24 July is International Self-Care Day, an annual celebration to raise awareness about self-care and the self-care interventions for maintaining good health and wellbeing. Self-care can be practiced 24 hours a day/7days a week. The benefits of self-care are life-long and do not just relate to a single day.

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 health worker.

Self-care includes health promotion, disease prevention and control, self-medication, giving care to dependent people, seeking primary care, hospital or specialist when needed, and rehabilitation and palliative care.

Self-care interventions are tools that support self-care and promote individuals’ active participation in their healthcare. These include evidence-based, high-quality drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital interventions.

Self-care works as a part to support the health system. While people are using self-care interventions, they can also access the health system and community support for further assistance when needed.

Self-care is necessary because of:

• Overburdened health system: About 4.3 billion people have inadequate access to essential health services.
• Shortage of qualified health workers: The estimated global shortage of health workers to achieve UHC is expected to grow to 18 million (health workers) by 2030.
• Health services disrupt during crises like pandemics, humanitarian crises, armed conflicts and climate change. 1 in 5 of the world’s population are now living in humanitarian crises, where it is difficult for healthcare systems to deliver essential health services. 

Self-care interventions can:

• empower individuals and communities to manage their health and well-being,
• strengthen national health facilities with efficient use of domestic resources for health,
• enhance primary healthcare (PHC) to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in humanitarian settings.

Self-care and self-care interventions are integral components of health system. They should not replace health systems, but rather enhance them. 

References-

https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2022/06/24/default-calendar/self-care-month

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/self-care-interventions-for-health

https://www.who.int/health-topics/self-care#tab=tab_2