Self-Care, Health Literacy, and Sustainable Financing

Building Health Resilience through Innovation and Community

Co-hosted by: African Diaspora Network & Opella

Overview

Healthcare systems around the world are under strain. Rising costs, workforce shortages, and persistent inequities mean that millions of people cannot consistently access formal care. For many communities across Africa, Asia, and beyond, self-care is not a supplement to healthcare – it is the first and sometimes only option available.

Self-care, when paired with strong health literacy, can play a transformative role. It empowers individuals to understand their health, make informed decisions, and take proactive steps toward wellness. It also reduces demand on overstretched health systems, freeing resources for those with the most critical needs. But for self-care to truly reach its potential, people must have access to clear information, trusted networks of guidance, and sustainable models that ensure tools and services remain available and affordable.

This is where the issue of sustainable financing becomes critical. Without innovative financing solutions — from blended capital to diaspora-backed investment — self-care initiatives often remain small-scale, underfunded, and inaccessible to the communities that need them most.

The 2025 Impact and Innovation Forum will bring together entrepreneurs, scientists, health professionals, and diaspora leaders to tackle these questions head-on. The forum is designed not just to exchange ideas, but to surface actionable solutions and pathways for individuals, businesses, and communities to strengthen self-care practices, expand health literacy, and identify financing mechanisms that can make these solutions scalable and lasting.

The discussion highlighted several key takeaways:

  • Self-Care as a Collective Health Strategy: Empowering individuals to manage their own health through prevention and early intervention can significantly reduce the burden on underfunded public health systems. Prof. Mohamed Hassany, Assistant Minister of Health for Egypt, shared reflections from Egypt’s groundbreaking hepatitis C elimination campaign, which leveraged self-testing and large-scale public education to achieve population-level impact.

  • Co-Creation and Localized Innovation: It is important to co-create healthcare experiences with patients emphasizing the “why” behind treatments, not just the “what” and “how”. Dr. Deepa Maharaj of Opella highlighted the importance of using simple, everyday language to make health information accessible to all, while Dr. Chibuzo Opara, CEO of DrugStoc, inspired the audience with his practical philosophy: “See one, do one, teach one.” Both underscored how localized innovation – through mobile platforms, QR codes, and consumer-driven design – can make health products and information more accessible.

  • Shifting Towards Prevention Focused Healthcare: Dr. Sham Moodley called for embedding self-care into medical training and government policy, advocating for a stronger focus on prevention within healthcare education. This, he noted, is essential for building resilient health systems and advancing public health equity.

  • Financing for Sustainable Health Systems: Greg Perry, Director-General, The Global Self-Care Federation, reminded participants that “we need to prevent people from falling into the river, not just focus on pulling people from the river.” His words captured the forum’s core message: sustainable financing and early intervention are critical to long-term health system resilience.

A heartfelt thank you to our speakers, Dr. Sham Moodley, Greg Perry, Prof. Mohamed Hassany, Dr. Deepa Maharaj, and Dr. Chibuzo Opara, for their expertise, clarity, and leadership in advancing this important conversation.
And a special thank you to Opella for their continued commitment to improving healthcare access through self-care and health literacy.

Speakers

Prof. Mohamed Hassany
Prof. Mohamed Hassany
Health Minister’s Assistant for Projects and Public Health Initiatives at the Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt
Panelist
Dr.Deepa Maharaj
Deepa Maharaj
Global HCP Strategic Catalyst, Opella
Panelist
Dr. Sham Moodley
Dr. Sham Moodley
Joint Chair of the Pharmacy Stakeholders Forum (PSF)- Pricing Regulations
Context Setter
Chibuzo Opara
Chibuzo Opara
CEO at DrugStoc, Nigeria
Panelist

Greg Perry

Director-General,The Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF)
Moderator