BY S KWAGALA: Health experts from the Ministry of Health in Uganda have said that our health care system can get better when individuals embrace the aspect of self-care management.
This would mean individuals being able to generally manage their well being especially when it comes to health. According to WHO the term means, the ability for individuals, families and communities to promote, maintain health, prevent disease and cope with illness with or without the support
of a healthcare provider.”
Some of the ways of managing one’s health could include self-testing and administration of treatment.
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Through self-care, a lot of time spent at health facilities can be saved by individuals, the burden of long lines as well as reducing the patient-doctor ratio which is still a challenge in Uganda.
In addition, through self-care according to the experts, individuals would prevent late diagnosis for some conditions.
According to Dr. Olaro Charles, the Director of Curative Services at the ministry of health, self-health care once done with the right information can improve the general well being of people in society.
Dr. Olaro noted that self-health care would even play a key role in abating sudden deaths due to conditions like high blood pressure. “You see, we have a number of sudden deaths because people are not accustomed to regular self-checkups, they only wait until they can access the hospital.”
The Ministry of Health provides for self-care among its policies as well as the constitution through articles like one that demands that all citizens have access to quality drugs and medicine regulated by the National Drug Authority.
Precious Mutoru, the Advocacy and Partnership manager at Population Services International (PSI) noted that digitization has even made the phenomenal of self-care easier through medical applications.
Besides, test kits have also been availed by the medical system like for pregnancy, malaria, blood pressure, sugar levels, HIV and many all to enhance self-care.
However, the experts were strong on emphasizing that all self-care should start with information from a medical expert to avoid mismanagement and its consequences.