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Health is a fundamental human right. It is essentially an individual responsibility. Health is not a commodity available in the market to be purchased, instead it has to be earned and maintained by the individual himself. No health services of the state or community can give health. An individual must accept the broad spectrum of responsibilities. This is known as “self care”.
Self care is the recent trend in health care. Self care can be defined as ‘those health generating activities that are undertaken by the person themselves’. It includes the activities which an individual can undertake to
- promote their own health,
- prevent their own disease
- limit their own illness
- restore their own health
These activities are undertaken without professional help though technical knowledge and skills are provided. General properties of self care includes
- Non professional
- Non bureaucratic
- Non industrial
Self care has a natural place in social life. Self care activities comprise observation of simple rules of behavior relating to diet, sleep, exercise weight, alcohol, smoking, drugs, personal hygiene, cultivation of healthy habits and life styles, regular medical examination and screening, accepting immunization and other disease preventing measures, early reporting when sick and accepting medical treatment, undertaking measures to prevent relapse of the disease or spread of the disease to others and family planning.
In cases of chronic illness an individual must learn to care for themselves. By keeping record and monitoring to blood pressure, blood sugar, urine sugar regularly an individual can help the health personnel and reduce the burden on them.
Health must begin with the individual.
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