Attachments
Advancing Self-Care in Uganda’s Health System Self-care is increasingly recognized as a vital component of health systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as “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”. WHO released its first consolidated guideline on self-care interventions in 2019 (focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights) and updated it in 2022 to encompass health and well-being broadly. These guidelines emphasize that self-care interventions are critical for achieving universal health coverage (UHC). Currently, an estimated 3.6 billion people – half the world’s population – lack access to essential health services, and WHO recommends self-care as a key strategy to bridge this gap. By empowering people to take charge of their own health, self-care approaches can expand coverage, improve health outcomes, and relieve overburdened health facilities. Uganda has been at the forefront of adopting self-care in policy and practice. In 2020, the Ministry of Health (MOH) established a multi-stakeholder Self-Care Expert Group to adapt the WHO guidelines to Uganda’s context. With support from partners, Uganda developed a National SelfCare Guideline for Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health, which was officially launched in 2024, making Uganda one of the first countries in the world with a national self-care policy framework. Even before the guideline launch, Uganda piloted several self-care interventions over the past five years – including self-injectable contraceptives (DMPA-SC), HIV self-testing, and HPV self-sampling – demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of these approaches. The focus now is on scaling up these interventions and integrating self-care into health services nationwide. This policy brief, issued by WHO Uganda in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, is intended for a wide range of stakeholders – government health officials, district leaders, development partners, and cultural and religious leaders – who are gathering for an orientation on self-care interventions. It provides key messages on the importance of self-care and outlines recommendations to accelerate implementation. Strengthening self-care in Uganda’s health system will require both technical action and advocacy, and the commitment of all stakeholders is crucial to success.