Health Research Policy and Systems | 2021
Changing national health policies for introduction, uptake and scale-up of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
Abstract
© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ publi cdoma in/ zero/1. 0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. “Health for all, by all so that everyone in the Eastern Mediterranean Region can enjoy a better quality of life.” Dr. Al Mandhari, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean WHO defines self-care interventions as a variety of tools which can be accessed and used by individuals with or without the direct supervision of a health worker. Advances in evidence-based health information, medicines, diagnostics, products and technologies have increased the potential for self-care interventions to increase health coverage for promotive, protective, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative needs of individuals, families and communities. The increasing demand for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) and the importance of ensuring universal health coverage (UHC) including coverage, quality and financial protection for SRH also highlights the need for engagement of WHO Member States in the EMR. The 2019 WHO consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health (“Guideline”) contains evidencebased recommendations and good practice statements on Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) [1]. The conceptual framework on self-care interventions for health that informed this Guideline takes a peoplecentered approach for adopting, implementing and scaling up self-care interventions, and places emphasis on improving people’s health and well-being. The framework is closely linked to the 17 interlinked Sustainable Development Goals and acknowledges that progress in health will require commitment to human rights, gender equality, equity and accountability through two complementary pathways of change to achieve the right to health for all. This includes (1) increasing the autonomy and agency of individuals to make informed health decisions regarding people’s health and well-being; and (2) transforming health systems to create safe and supportive enabling environments that promote and support the use of selfcare interventions [2]. Successful introduction and uptake of self-care interventions at the country level will depend on an interplay of factors linking these two pathways, but also on elements that lie beyond the control of individuals and the traditional scope of the health sector. Translating these complex, multilevel and critical changes into effective Open Access