The International Self-Care Day campaign objective is to explain to all stakeholders - the public, healthcare professionals, the media and health officials, the importance of self-care in health care and encourage the general public to practice self-care.

July 24th (24/7) is the chosen day for International Self-Care Day as it can be used as a reminder that the benefits of self-care are experienced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The campaign is run by the World Self-Medication Industry, an NGO in official relations with the World Health Organization.

In the framework of the International Self-Care Day 2014 a European comparison has been made by the French self-care association Afipa. For the eight countries France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Great Britain the status quo of self-medication has been investigated. Main result for the year 2013 is the increase of self-medication about 2, 4 % in relation to 2012. In detail, there are differences between the countries: In France the OTC pharmaceuticals have a relatively low share of 15, 7 % to all consumed pharmaceuticals, in Germany this is about 40%.

From the figures published, the noPILLS project can draw useful information about the consumption of OTC pharmaceuticals in the involved European countries. These are relevant aspects while aiming at a change of people’s behavior heading towards a conscious use of pharmaceuticals.

Red more about the European comparison of self-medication (in German).

Read more about the International Self-Care Day (in English).