7 October 2020

Consumer Healthcare Products (CHP) Australia joins more than 50 health experts and stakeholders in endorsing a new report that calls for a national policy approach to building self-care capability and enhancing self-care activity in all aspects of health and health care.

Launched today by the Minister for Health, Hon Greg Hunt MP, the Mitchell Institute’s Self-care for health: a national policy blueprint outlines a suite of evidence-based, feasible policy proposals to support self-care through health policy and practice, developed in collaboration with a network of health, self-care and policy experts.

Additionally, the report illustrates how the value of self-care extends beyond just improving Australians’ health and well-being, with economic modelling revealing the cost-saving potential of self-care in Australia to be between $1,300-$7,515 per hospital patient, per year.

Mitchell Institute's Head of Health Policy, and member of the Expert Steering Committee for the National Preventive Health Strategy, Professor Rosemary Calder AM explains;

“COVID has shown how central self-care is to everyone’s good health. Now is the time for a systematic approach.”

“The same strong leadership from governments and health experts that has been so effective throughout the pandemic needs to be applied to improving the self-care of all Australians,”

CHP Australia fully supports and endorses the implementation of Mitchell Institute’s blueprint in full, with Chief Executive Officer, Dr Deon Schoombie emphasising;

“While the term ‘self-care’ implies a focus on actions of individuals, Governments and policymakers play a major role in creating environments that either inhibit or enable self-care.”

“If properly supported, self-care can be a game changer for public health and reducing the burden of preventable and chronic conditions, with the benefits being shared by individuals and government.”