As our society ages, the importance of self-care will only increase, so it’s perhaps no surprise that a recent report from pharmaceutical company GSK revealed that 80% of Europeans believe it’s their own responsibility to manage their health.
Despite this, the report also highlights the huge disparity in investment between managing chronic conditions, which receive 80% of health spending, and preventing them, which receives just 3%.
The study was compiled after analyzing around 300 articles and interviews with key stakeholders across Europe, and identified four key barriers that prevent Europeans from effectively managing their own health:
- Low levels of health literacy
- Low investment in preventative healthcare
- Poor awareness of self-care among health professionals
- Inadequate access to over-the-counter medicine in some regions
I’ve touched on the importance of self-care a few times over the years, not least when discussing strategies for reorienting healthcare in an age where the nature and demographics of healthcare make it increasingly unviable. The onus simply has to shift towards one of keeping people healthy rather than waiting for them to become ill.
The importance of health literacy
Suffice to say, for people to be able to take control of their health requires them to have a high degree of health literacy. The study found that while the majority of Europeans believe it’s important to take personal responsibility for their health, less than half don’t possess sufficient health literacy to do so effectively.
This, coupled with the lack of meaningful investment in preventative healthcare is largely undermining efforts to encourage self-care in Europe at the moment. Indeed, the authors suggest that this lack of investment is a major contributory factor to poor health literacy levels. They are confident that greater investment in self-care would pay off, however.
“Enabling people to manage their own health and well-being through self-care can bring important health benefits,” the researchers explain. “In addition to improving health outcomes, self-care can help alleviate the increasing pressure of healthcare systems in Europe. Besides cost savings, self-care has the potential to contribute to better resource allocation in healthcare systems.”
While the pandemic has shifted people’s attention to self-care more than ever before, there is clearly much work still to be done to ensure that people receive the support they need to do so effectively.
“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been encouraging to see the increased importance that many people are now placing on looking after their own health,” the researchers conclude. “We would like to harness this increased awareness by doing more to improve health literacy and empower people to manage their everyday health with confidence.”
