Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for 74 percent of all deaths worldwide—including 86 percent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). According to the Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF), self-care can be a key strategy in tackling this global health crisis.

This month, GSCF hosted a webinar exploring how equipping individuals with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to manage their health could make NCDs treatable and preventable. The discussion is crucial as the global health community prepares for the 2025 Fourth High-level Meeting on NCDs in New York this September. GSCF says it hopes to raise awareness about the power of self-care in preventing and managing NCDs and to push for renewed commitments and funding to support this approach.

Specifically, the organisation published a policy paper calling for three key actions: First, for member states to recognise self-care as a vital tool for easing the global burden of NCDs and reducing pressure on healthcare systems, and to formally integrate it into national universal health coverage plans. Second, for the 2025 Political Declaration to explicitly highlight the role of self-care in reducing NCD risks and improving prevention and management. And third, for self-care to be acknowledged as essential to empowering individuals and improving health outcomes.

Progress has been inconsistent despite international efforts—such as the World Health Organization (WHO) Global NCD Action Plan (2013–2030) and the Sustainable Development Goals. Health systems, particularly in LMICs, are struggling to meet the growing demand for NCD care. GSCF has highlighted that a siloed approach to healthcare has failed in many regions.

“I think it is important that society understands that the healthcare profession consists of physicians, pharmacists, dentists, and the nursing sector. It’s not just a focus on one of those four groups,” explained Greg Perry, GSCF director general. He added that it is important to look at how health workers and health professionals can work together with individuals to expand access to self-care tools and encourage their use.

According to Orajitt Bumrungskulswat, a board member of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organisations, several barriers can hinder the adoption of self-care for managing NCDs. These include a lack of knowledge and skills about NCDs and self-care practices. Financial constraints also play a role, limiting access to affordable, high-quality self-care products and services. In addition, many communities face insufficient health education and a lack of supportive environments, networks, and peer groups.

In Thailand, Bumrungskulswat said the Ministry of Public Health estimates that there are 6.5 million people living with diabetes, 40 million with high blood pressure, approximately 1 million with kidney disease at various stages, 140,000 cancer cases per year, and up to 10 million people dealing with mental health issues.

“This is mainly because of individual behaviours and because people are not really aware of how to practice self-care,” Bumrungskulswat said.

To change this trajectory, the ministry launched a campaign aimed at encouraging healthier habits—such as reducing salty, oily, and sugary foods and increasing physical activity—especially in Thailand’s southern region, where these issues are more prevalent. The campaign includes distributing prevention guidelines on social media and in communities and strengthening support networks and patient groups. Bumrungskulswat noted that these groups now collaborate closely with professionals and local healthcare centres to promote prevention and self-care education. Thailand is already beginning to see the impact of these efforts.

Ireland’s dentists take the lead

Expanding the network of care providers is also proving to be a key strategy in the fight against non-communicable diseases. Dr Dympna Kavanagh, chair of the Platform for Better Oral Health, shared how Ireland has leveraged its dental professionals to support this goal.

“Embedding oral health into wider self-care and prevention frameworks, we can achieve better outcomes, not just for individuals, but for healthcare systems, populations and societies as a whole,” Kavanagh said.

In Ireland, Kavanagh’s program has redefined the free dental examination for lower-income patients to include oral check-ups, risk assessments, and lifestyle advice. Payments for delivering these services were increased by more than 25% to reflect dentists’ expanded role.

“We do see that there has been an increase of over 8,000 patients attending per month seeking treatment since introducing this change,” Kavanagh said. “Dentists remain amongst the top three healthcare professionals providing tobacco cessation advice in Ireland.”

According to Ireland’s “Healthy Ireland” surveys, smoking rates have plateaued at 17%. Yet, the country did not stop there. Oral health professionals were also empowered to take on new roles in public health, including vaccinations.

Vaccination, a critical component of self-care, became a focal point during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ireland achieved high vaccine uptake in part by passing emergency legislation that authorised dentists and hygienists to administer vaccines. This policy has since been made permanent.

Today, Irish dentists are also supporting HPV vaccination efforts, which play a crucial role in preventing oral cancers.

“In our population campaigns, we are fortunate to see an uptake of 80% in girls and 76% in boys,” Kavanagh said.

She emphasised the need to keep oral health front and center in discussions about NCDs: “We must continue to amplify oral health as part of the global NCD agenda. We must remind policymakers and governments that prevention doesn’t begin with policy alone and doesn’t end with policy alone. It begins with empowered individuals who are supported to care for their own health by reducing tobacco and alcohol use, improving their diets, accessing vaccination and maintaining consistent oral hygiene.”

Expanding access through pharmacies

According to Mfonobong Timothy, Disease Prevention and Self-Care program coordinator for the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), pharmacists are another group of caregivers who can play a vital role in promoting self-care. She explained that pharmacies are widely recognised as first-line healthcare providers—personal healthcare professionals who are knowledgeable and highly accessible.

“Pharmacists are also playing a crucial role in promoting the role of vaccination in good health and wellbeing,” Timothy said. “In 56 territories, we now have pharmacy-based vaccination, and we continue to advocate for this to ensure policymakers know that this is a form of self-care that we can provide to individuals towards having good health and wellbeing.”

In addition to their role in vaccination, Timothy emphasised that pharmacists provide essential hands-on guidance for using medical devices—a key part of supporting patients in their daily self-care routines.

“Without the strong support system, individuals may not feel motivated,” Timothy noted.

Shifting from treatment to prevention

In some LMICs, particularly across Africa, there has been a shift away from the traditional medical model toward a community- or society-based model of care. This shift is helping societies move from treatment toward prevention, explained GSCF’s Perry.

“In high-income countries, we have the drugs, we have the guidelines, we have the digital tools, yet we still see that life expectancy and healthcare-associated costs are increasing,” said Dr Adelard Kakunze, lead for the NCDs, Injuries and Mental Health Program at the Africa CDC. “The question is why? Why, if we have all the knowledge and tools, are we not able to really control these conditions?”

Kakunze believes the answer lies in the lack of personal engagement with self-care. In most countries, he said, health systems have failed to encourage citizens to practice the daily discipline required for self-care—what he describes as the “invisible work” that begins after the clinic door closes. This can include checking one’s blood pressure, adjusting one’s diet, or going for a walk instead of taking another pill.

In Africa, however, this shift is gaining traction. With limited access to specialists and resources, countries on the continent have been forced to innovate—leading to a growing body of evidence-based practices and lessons that other countries can adopt quickly, affordably, and at scale.

At the core of this innovation is community. Kakunze noted that many African countries have a strong network of community health workers embedded in nearly every neighbourhood.

“We also now have a political commitment to deploy and equip 2 million community health workers on the continent, and what we’ve been seeing in many countries [is] that they have really embraced this with a contextualized, adapted training curriculum now that integrates NCDs,” he said. “Now, those community health workers can screen, counsel, and follow thousands of patients at home.”

He added, “We have learnt that putting the community at the centre is key, and we cannot afford to always look at those specialised services. We don’t have them, and it’s costly. So, we have to really rely on the community.”

One example is the Friendship Bench project, developed in Zimbabwe. This program offers a simple solution to closing the mental health treatment gap.

Using a cognitive behavioural therapy-based approach, trained community volunteers—affectionately called “grandmothers”—deliver structured problem-solving therapy to people suffering from common mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Patients meet with the grandmothers for six 45-minute sessions on discreet wooden benches at local clinics, creating a safe and welcoming space for healing.

Since its launch, the Friendship Bench has shown impressive results. A 2016 study published in JAMA found a significant reduction in depressive symptoms amongst participants. The model’s success has inspired adaptations beyond Zimbabwe, including in Malawi, Zanzibar, and even New York City—showing how solutions developed in low-income countries can transform mental health care around the world.

More recently, community health workers have been paired with primary healthcare centres or general practitioners who can provide supervision and standardised health checklists.

“We have seen the impact of those community health workers when they are supervised; the impact is really increasing a lot,” Kakunze said.

Looking ahead, the Africa CDC is now exploring the use of advanced technologies and tools to support community health workers and enhance their effectiveness.

Kavanagh echoed similar sentiments. She noted that Europe has taken a “very siloed, very narrow” approach to the healthcare workforce, defining it strictly as doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses. She suggested countries should also consider tapping into their ageing populations to broaden that workforce.

“Talented people retire, and then the country loses their wealth of knowledge,” she said.

Kavanagh proposed that older medical professionals could be engaged to play a meaningful role in community healthcare, helping fill workforce gaps while contributing valuable experience.

Private-sector partnerships

Finally, experts say the private sector also has a vital role to play in advancing self-care.

Dr Vinayak Mohan Prasad, head of the No Tobacco Unit at WHO, noted that there are 1.25 billion tobacco users worldwide—and more than 60% of them want to quit. To address this, WHO established a consortium that brings together private companies, non-state actors, and state actors to collaborate on tobacco cessation.

“We have a pharma pillar, so all the pharma companies can come in. We have a digital tech pillar, and we have a couple of very powerful tech companies already in the consortium,” he said. “We also have a health system group. We have the research group because there are a lot of research gaps still existing.”

This collaborative model is being applied beyond tobacco control. Tamara Rogers, chief marketing officer for Haleon, highlighted how private and public actors can also partner to improve access to healthcare.

She explained that while private industry can drive innovation and develop affordable health products and solutions, non-governmental organisations can play a key role in ensuring these tools reach the people who need them most.

“I think building trustful, stable, multi-year partnerships is really pivotal in making sure that we can best maximize all of the collective resources, expertise and innovation,” Rogers said.

Image Credits: Caroline LM/ Unsplash, Wikimedia Commons, Sarah Johnson.