In the run-up to International Self-Care Day (24 July) and beyond, AESGP is kicking off a new awareness campaign around the theme “Self-Care: our first line of defense”. The campaign celebrates the importance of self-care as our first line of defense when it comes to healthcare.

Don’t forget the lessons brought by COVID-19

We expect the healthcare system to be there when we need it. But rising costs and greater demand from things like the COVID-19 pandemic, an ageing population, and non-communicable diseases make this increasingly difficult. Our challenge as a society is to ensure equal access to care for all while reducing the burden on the healthcare system.

AESGP’s mission is to promote responsible self-care so that it becomes an integral part of comprehensive health promotion and disease prevention strategy in Europe.  A people-centred approach that empowers and motivates everyone to play a greater role in their own health and wellbeing.  An approach to healthcare that gives people more control, choice and confidence while helping reduce the pressure on the entire system.

The pandemic, and all the difficulties it brought to our lives, has demonstrated how crucial self-care can be in addressing a number of health system and societal challenges. But it has also encouraged positive changes, including the uptake of new behaviours towards self-care and the acceleration of innovation.

The AESGP awareness campaign highlights key takeaway messages from the AESGP’s Evidence Summary “Self-care in times of pandemic and beyond: looking back a year after”,  calling to not forget the lessons brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and to continue the efforts to promote self-care as the first step in healthcare.

Self-care is something we have in common, everywhere in Europe

Self-care is something we all do, every day. It is a key pillar in our well-being [1]. Its value was made more evident during the pandemic. And it is something we have in common, everywhere in Europe.

As another foundation stone of our awareness campaign, AESGP has invited people from across Europe to record a short video of themselves “speaking up for self-care” and telling how self-care has helped them deal with a healthcare challenge during the pandemic or other setting.

Aiming to reflect our European nature, the videos feature stories from Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland, all of them in the local language (with subtitles in English, of course!).

Are you up for a self-care promise?

With what we have been through since the beginning of the pandemic, we all understand how important it is to embed self-care in our lives and our societies. As a member of the Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF), AESGP warmly supports the GSCF’s initiative #SelfCarePromise, which encourages you to commit to engaging in positive self-care action.

Adopting good self-care habits beyond the pandemic is one of the best ways to protect ourselves, our communities, and our healthcare systems. This will bring us one step closer to further establishing self-care as a vital foundation of health and lead to better health outcomes for all. So, are you up for a #SelfCarePromise?

Don’t miss a beat of our campaign

At AESGP, we work towards a greater understanding of self-care and healthcare. We like to say that “together we can take care of ourselves”. Because when we all work together to empower self-care, that’s good – for us, for our friends and families, and for our society.

From 7 July until 23 August, we will be actively promoting our content. Make sure you don’t miss a beat of it: follow us now on LinkedIn and Twitter.

[1] Read our blog “Self-Care 24/7: Together we can take care of ourselves” to understand better what we mean by “self-care”.