People are Canada’s greatest healthcare resource, but their potential is too often underestimated and under-valued.

Canada needs a National Self-Care Strategy now to:

• Increase Canadians’ capacity to take care of themselves
• Save time, money, and resources
• Make our publicly funded healthcare system more sustainable

Why Now?

People are Canada’s greatest healthcare resource, but their potential is too often underestimated and under-valued compared to the publicly-funded healthcare system. Canada should support self-care tools, information, products and services that help Canadians make healthy lifestyle choices, treat minor health ailments, manage — or, better yet, prevent — chronic diseases, and more

As the COVID-19 pandemic has made clearer than ever, Canadians want and need the resources, information, products and services to practice self-care as an effective, low-cost complement to investments in the publicly-funded healthcare system.

Learn more:

Canadians support self-care! Read our press release, urgently calling for the federal government to implement a National Self-Care strategy and dig into Abacus Data’s polling results.

Read our Blueprint for Development of a National Self-Care Strategy (French) and Summary (French).  

On February 3, 2021, Abacus Data's Chief Executive, David Coletto hosted and moderated a digital conversation titled "Take Care, Canada: can self-care help save health care?"

David shared results from the national survey while moderating a discussion with leading public policy and health leaders about how a National Self-Care Strategy could improve health outcomes for Canadians and improve the sustainability of the publicly-funded healthcare system.

Panelists included:

• Dr. Nardine Nakhla, Clinical Lecturer at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy
• Judy Steinmark, Director General at the Global Self-Care Federation
• Kristine Sørensen, PhD, President of the International Health Literacy Association
• Gerry Harrington, Senior Advisor at Food, Health, & Consumer Products of Canada.

A recording of the digital conversation is available to watch. 

For more information on Self-Care Day and the Seven Pillars of Self-Care, visit selfcare.ca. 

Visit OnEveryShelf.ca for more resources on this issue and more of FHCP's top priorities.