The Self-Care Trailblazers Group gathered this week in celebration of International Self-Care Day, by hosting its Annual Member Summit, titled “Self-Care for SRHR: Collective Action in a Time of Global Opposition.” Speakers such as WHO Regional Advisers, NGO leaders and program implementers came together to highlight how global and regional coalition-building can strengthen support for self-care and mitigate opposition to SRHR, and how self-care interventions continue to thrive in a complex global health environment.
This year includes inaugural Regional Summits across Africa/Asia & the Americas, expanding language access and representation from the Self-Care Trailblazers Group geographically diverse membership.
The Africa/Asia Regional Summit took place on July 21st at 2pm EAT and included speakers from WHO-AFRO, Centre ODAS, the Uganda Ministry of Health, and Population Services Training Center, a Bangladeshi NGO. A total of 147 members joined the Africa/Asia Summit and contributed their self-care wins and advocacy ideas through a series of Mentimeter boards, videos and other digital engagement tools. Many expressed the need for greater regional collaboration in the form of shared learning.
“Achieving health for all means empowering and educating people to become active decisionmakers in their own health. That is what self-care is about,” said Dr. Leopold Ouedraogo, Regional Advisor for SRHR at WHO-AFRO, “Partnership is very important, when we talk about opposition, we need to make sure we have collective action to push the agenda forth.”
The Americas Summit took place on July 23rd at 2pm EST and included speakers from PAHO, Fos Feminista, FP2030’s Latin America Hub, and Vitala Global. A total of 35 members joined the Americas Summit, echoing the importance of shared learning and collaboration in a challenging global landscape. This Regional Summit marks the Self-Care Trailblazers Group first dedicated program for Latin America, produced primarily in Spanish—an exciting foray into a region where self-care is quickly growing.
“In our region, 1 out of 6 people will experience infertility, 64,000 couples and women will have an unmet need for contraception. Over half a million people will contract HPV and may face cervical cancer complications,” said Dr. Rodolfo Ponce Gomez de Leon, Regional Advisor for the Pan-American Health Organization, “[Self-care] interventions reinforce person-centered care and reproductive rights. It’s not that the health system is turning away, rather it is the opposite.”
Check out more resources from the Self-Care Trailblazers Group & Partners
- State of Self-Care Report:
- BMJ Special Collection:
- Self-Care Advocacy Briefs
- SCTG Francophone Hub
- WHO Generic Implementation-Research Protocol for Underserved Populations — 2025.
- WHO, Value of Self-Care for Advancing SRHR — 2025.
- WHO, Implementation of Self-Care Interventions: Guidance for Health Systems — 2024.