WHO’s Self-Care Month (June 24th – July 24th) and International Self-Care Day July 24th

 

The Global Self-Care Federation (GSCF) is putting the spotlight on the benefits of self-care ahead of and beyond WHO’s Self-Care Month (June 24th – July 24th) and International Self-Care Day July 24th – two key annual advocacy milestones. 
 
GSCF’s 2022 International Self-Care Day campaign builds on the #SelfCarePromise theme, encouraging everyone to make and share their personal commitment to embrace a specific self-care action. This year, we are specifically focusing on the topic of resilience.  

Self-care is any action that an individual takes to look after their own health, based on the knowledge and information available to them. This practice can also occur in collaboration with healthcare professionals when needed. Actively managing your own health and well-being through self-care has numerous benefits, including better choice between healthcare options, better care for individual wellbeing and better value for governments and health systems worldwide.

Continued ... 

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

SELF-CARE Mental health  self-care & wellbeing Individual Health literacy (- and other literacies!) Self Advocacy	Physical self-care Personal resilience Evidence-based interventions Disease prevention Diagnostics, Drugs, Devices,  Integrated into Care
Health Promotion & Education Community Empowerment Community Resilience Community Advocacy Social cohesion Rehabilitation, Recovery & Reablement	Knowledge & Information Access Learning opportunities   Universal Health Coverage Approp. Policy frameworks Improved care outcomes Advocacy representation WHO and agencies

See also:WHO - Self-care for health and well-being

c/o HIFA "Help Shape Global Guidance for Rural & Remote Health"

Guidance on Evidence-Based Healthcare Strategies 
to Serve Rural & Remote Communities

Rural and remote communities are not peripheral — they are central to the fabric of our societies.

Through the Communities of Practice for Remote and Rural Health, in collaboration with Rural Wonca, The National Center for Rural Health Professions, Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, and Rural Doctors Network, we have developed a draft Guidance on Evidence-Based Healthcare Strategies to Serve Rural and Remote Communities.

Now, we are inviting the wider TUFH Network to help strengthen it.

This draft Guidance: 

• Brings a rural lens to global health systems 
• Focuses on access as the defining challenge in rural health 
• Addresses funding, workforce, infrastructure, culture, and equity 
• Recognizes socioeconomic overlays and preventable disease burdens 
• Highlights vulnerable groups, including Indigenous communities, women, the elderly, and people with Disabilities
• Draws on global case studies from Canada, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Ethiopia, and beyond
• Proposes actionable, adaptable strategies grounded in evidence and expert consensus

Importantly, the paper intentionally shifts away from a deficit narrative toward one that recognizes rural strengths, resilience, and community-driven solutions.

We Need Your Input

We are seeking feedback that helps us ensure this Guidance is: 

• Globally relevant across diverse rural contexts 
• Practical and implementable 
• Inclusive of LMIC realities 
• Clear in its recommendations 
• Strengthened by lived experience and frontline practice

Through the consultation survey, we are specifically inviting your reflections on: 

• Clarity of definitions (e.g., rurality, generalist workforce, access)
• Gaps in evidence or missing priority issues 
• Feasibility of implementation strategies 
• Cultural responsiveness and community engagement 
• Additional case studies or models to include 
• Areas needing further research or clarification

Your expertise — whether as a policymaker, academic, practitioner, community leader, or advocate — is essential.

We request your input in any of the following forms by April 30th.

Specific Feedback Forms (Deadline for Feedback is April 30th)

Access Draft Paper 📑<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=2d170bf5cf&e=95c553a647>

1. If you have any suggestions on specific content, additional references to cite existing or new information, or other updates, please fill out this form:

Guidance Document - Content Body – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=ff3084197e&e=95c553a647>

2. If you have any specific information that can be used to include solutions and successes that could better reflect rural realities for each of the document sections, please fill out this form:

Guidance on evidence-based healthcare strategies to serve rural and remote communities. – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=392220cca9&e=95c553a647>

3. If you have specific lessons from regions that can be included in the Guidance Document, please fill out this form:

Guidance Document - Lessons Learned from Different Regions – Fill out form 📝
<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=de2ab21951&e=95c553a647>

4. If you have specific evidence that can be used to describe the relative contribution of patient factors and access factors in rural disease, please fill out this form:

Evidence-based relative contribution of patient and access factors for rural disease – Fill out form 📝<https://thenetworktufh.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=742357d7350b0bf9f9591c8ab&id=3d8527953c&e=95c553a647> 

Communities of Practice

Why This Matters

Health disparities in rural and remote communities are rarely about incidence alone. They are about access, equity, and systems design.

This Guidance aims to support: 

• Policymakers designing rural-responsive systems 
• Health workforce planners 
• Universities and training institutions 
• Community health leaders 
• Global partners advancing Universal Health Coverage

Join us at TUFH 2026 in Manila, Philippines
https://tufh2026.com/

We look forward to welcoming you for TUFH 2026! 

If you need assistance with registration or have any other questions, please contact -
secretariat AT thenetworktufh.org

Join The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH): https://thenetworktufh.org/

You are receiving this e-mail from the Office of the Secretariat from The Network: Towards Unity For Health

Our mailing address is: The Network: Toward Unity for Health (TUFH) 970 Sproul Road Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

My source:  David Cawthorpe via HIFA -
HIFA profile: David Cawthorpe is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, Canada. His professional interests include: Human Development, Developmental Psychopathology, and Delivery of low bandwidth medical education curriculum. cawthord AT ucalgary.ca

Webinar - Supporting Carers wellbeing

We have a further update on our project Informal Carers Well-Being Enhanced (ICWE) – Improve the conditions of ICs in their role as caretakers (icwe-project.eu) 

Join us on 27th November at 12.30 UK for a focused half hour when we will to a quick deep dive into some key tools to enable self care for carers REGISTER HERE

 Best Wishes 

c/o CEmPaC

Essay: 'Addressing health inequalities through employment' July 2025

Four priorities:

1. Establish closer working relationships across the SA [Strategic Authorities] ecosystem to prioritise action on health inequalities.  
   
   
2. Align resources to support people on their journey to sustainable employment.
   
   
3. Negotiate with government for greater permissions.
   
   
4. Harness the power of anchors.

 

Many useful references are also provided, e.g. Building Blocks of Health. Plus the discussion of anchors.

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

employment as a determinant of health mental & emotional health Early intervention, employer-employee liaison, health coaching*	PLACE - PLANET physical health - life-expectancy LOCAL - accessible
SOCIO- people & communities flourishing communities neighbourhood People in communities on  LONG-TERM SICKNESS WORKWELL grants* WIDER DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH SOCIAL VALUE OF HEALTH low-quality jobs - poorer health Poverty - HOUSING SECURITY	-ECONOMIC NHS 10 Year plan: 1. GP / dental access 2.  waiting lists hospital and community care 3. staff demoralised and demotivated 4. outcomes on major killers like cancer lag behind other countries. STRAGEIC AUTHORITIES - DEVOLUTION shift of wealth & power HEALTH INEQUALITIES inequity WHOLE GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO HEALTH ECONOMIC VALUE OF HEALTH low-quality jobs Local strategic response

See also -

Opinion: Failing to collect, analyse, and report ethnicity data in clinical research leads to healthcare inequalities. BMJ 2025; 390 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1457 (Published 14 July 2025)
Cite this as: BMJ 2025;390:r1457

 'hospital' : 'community' : 'analogue' : 'digital' : 'prevention' : 'sickness'

My source: https://x.com/TheKingsFund/status/1944678280461734226

Reablement, Rehabilitation, Recovery: Everyone’s business c/o BGS

In March 2023, we published Joining the dots: A blueprint for preventing and managing frailty in older people. This set out seven touchpoints of care that should be available to older people, as and when they need them and 12 recommendations to systems. One of the recommendations is specifically around the provision of rehabilitation and one of the touchpoints is ‘Integrated urgent community response, reablement, rehabilitation and intermediate care.’  

In this new document, we take a deep dive into this Blueprint recommendation, looking at the evidence behind the provision of rehabilitation for older people and highlighting examples of best practice from across the UK and internationally. We argue that rehabilitation should be a component of virtually all care for older people, across all care settings, and that there is no such thing as ‘no rehabilitation potential.’ 

This document has been led by Professor Anne Hendry, Honorary Professor at the University of the West of Scotland and Senior Associate at the International Foundation for Integrated Care and a group of BGS members from across the UK and across disciplines have contributed to drafting the document. We hope that BGS members, commissioners and system leaders will find it useful in planning rehabilitation services for older people in their communities. 

More information - full report.

Invitation to participate in research: Supporting midwives to provide emergency maternal & neonatal care in rural communities with limited resources

The challenges of providing quality midwifery care in rural and remote communities are significant, particularly in low and lower-middle-income countries. I am excited to invite midwives, midwifery educators, health service managers and Ministry of Health personnel from the focus countries listed below to participate in a PhD research study. Our research team aims to identify ways to better support midwives providing emergency maternal & neonatal care in rural communities with limited resources. Insights gained from these different perspectives will help us provide evidence for policy, education and practice.

Please consider participating in the study and/or sharing the link with your colleagues.

To participate in our online surveys, please use the following links:

Midwife/nurse-midwife survey: https://lnkd.in/eD4YSQnn

Educator/Manager/Ministry of Health survey: https://lnkd.in/gphj-i4D

If you would like more information, or if you are interested in participating in an online in-depth interview to discuss these issues, please email: Kristen.Graham AT anu.edu.au

Further information is also available at https://nceph.anu.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-primary-care-midwives-preparedness-readiness-emergency-maternal

Focus countries: Sub-Sahara Africa: Burundi, Eswatini, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South & SE Asia: India, Pakistan, Philippines, Pacific: Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu

This study has ANU ethics approval (Protocol 2022/492)

Thank you Kristen

Kristen Graham PhD candidate

National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health ANU College of Health and Medicine The Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600

HIFA profile (and my source): Kristen Graham is a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, Australia. Professional interests: Sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health; Midwifery; Workforce capacity building in rural and remote low resource settings. kristen.graham AT anu.edu.au

#iwd2023 #internationalwomensday
Ack. All midwives. PJ

Art as 'social media' 1923

Music, Health and Character

"The varied picture presented by life is viewed by each individual through the transforming medium of his own private consciousness. Our judgements are biased, being coloured, inevitably, by our personal  interests, occupation and experience. To the physician has been entrusted the health of the body; his outlook upon the world is tinged by his desire to prevent disease by eliminating abnormal predisposing causes. So close and so intricate is the union of mind and body that modern medicine recognizes the necessity of right thinking and right conduct for the highest development of the body. Hence, from his unique corner of advantage, that of the sympathetic confidant of innumerable life tragedies, the physician views with dismay the ruin of individuals, and the disaster brought on families and entire communities by frequent contact with the morbid, even at times the depraved teaching which is embodied in many branches of art with lighthearted irresponsibility. More and more profoundly are the medical psychologists impressed by the creative and the destructive power of such intangible forces as ideas. More and more urgently, therefore, does modern medicine plead, in its capacity as guardian of the public health, for the improvement of mental and moral conditions. With wiser education people will demand that Art shall be pure, sincere and life-giving, and that artists shall value seriously their responsibility and their power to mould the character of the community. The true artist always aims high and discourages the association of art with all that is trivial, insincere and debasing." p.225-226.

Agnes Savill (Agnes Forbes Blackadder), Music, Health and Character, London: Bodley Head Limited. 1923.
(Book cover: AbeBooks)

Global Learning for Health Equity Network: Call for Proposals

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you have been well! I’m reaching out to share that the University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Nursing’s Global Learning for Health Equity Network recently opened a call for proposals that might be of interest to you and your network.

With support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we are awarding planning grants to help US communities find inspiration from low and middle income countries around the world for advancing equity in health, housing, education, and more.

Whether your organization already has a country it wants to learn from in mind or it’s just curious to explore global ideas that may advance health equity, this opportunity will provide grantees at any stage of their global learning journey with mentorship, resources and funding.

Potential applicants are invited to submit applications  the deadline is February 8, 2023. 

Would you be open to helping us amplify our call? We would love it if you could forward the link to our CFP to your network.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Want to learn more about global learning……See our webpage for more information. https://www.umaryland.edu/gl4hen/

Thanks so much.

Best regards and greetings of the season,

Yolanda Ogbolu

ogbolu AT umaryland.edu

Global Learning for Health Equity Network

University of Maryland, Baltimore
655 W. Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

My source: GANM

Are the lines open? Is the train running? "Wigan Coal and Iron"

"Nos. 7 and 8 pits were a short distance away from the main colliery and were known as Brookside or New Zealand Pits. No coal was raised at these pits when Wigan Coal Corporation took over, but they were used for pumping and ventilation. Shortly afterwards (in 1931) they were filled up.

Wigan Coal and Iron

 

A very tragic and bizarre accident happened here on 13th April 1945 when Ludovic Berry, a locomotive driver employed by the Coal Corporation, was moving 13 loaded wagons in sidings over the filled up No. 7 shaft which was 12ft. diameter and 400 yd. deep. Suddenly the ground collapsed under the leading wagon which fell into a large cavity followed by the rest of the train and the locomotive at an accelerating pace. The locomotive with all wheels locked by the brakes and the driver still at the controls was dragged into the shaft by the wagons and came to rest wedged in a vertical position with the smokebox uppermost 127 ft. down the shaft. The total length of the train was 283 ft. and there were indications on the rails that the brakes had been applied when the train was 226 ft. from the crater. This crater was 52 ft. long and 34 ft. wide. The body of the driver was never recovered, owing to the dangerous condition of the ground surrounding the cavity." p.181.

 INDIVIDUAL

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Ludovic	| | | ------------------------------------------------------- | | |
(Mr) Berry RIP

D. Anderson, A.A. France (1994) Wigan Coal and Iron. Paperback. Smiths of Wigan.
ISBN 0 9510680 7 5.

Cover image file - Amazon. Cover painting David W. Barrow.

See also:
http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/Collection/ian/2004/page_30.htm

https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/past1.php

Thanks to Mr Harold Parkinson RIP for the book.

LMIC: Opportunity to get involved with the National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK

Hello,

We have an exciting opportunity for people with lived experience based in low and middle income countries to get involved with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as funding committee members and reviewers, and we’d very much appreciate your help.

The NIHR is funded by the UK government and is a major funder of high quality global health research. Our next research programme is the Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) Call 5 , which is focused on strengthening health service delivery and resilience in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in the context of extreme weather events.

Would you be interested in joining us and giving your recommendations on which research proposals to fund? We are looking for people with lived experience of extreme weather events. Your insights and ideas can help shape research that is important to people living in LMICs, and improve healthcare services for some of the most vulnerable and marginalised communities.

The role of public committee member or reviewer involves reading funding proposals and providing a written summary of reflections. We pay a fee for involvement as a way of thanking you for your support. 

Please complete the Expression of Interest Form and submit this to us by Monday 16 May 2022.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this in more detail, please get in touch with Razina Hussain at ccfcei AT nihr.ac.uk. 

Thank you and best wishes,

Razina

Razina Hussain

Programme Manager, Community Engagement and Involvement | PPI and Engagement | NIHR Central Commissioning Facility (CCF)

e. razina.hussain AT nihr.ac.uk

Central Commissioning Facility

Grange House

15 Church Street

Twickenham

TW1 3NL

My source: HIFA

Into the looking glass: A collective self-assessment of health literacy

Dear friend ....

I am hoping to take a quick snapshot of health literacy around the world - and I need your help to accomplish this task.

Below is a link to 10 short and easy-to-answer questions - a very short survey - on SurveyMonkey. Responding shouldn't take more than a few minutes of your time but in the aggregate I believe will produce an actionable and meaningful understanding.

These questions are intended for people/organizations actively working on health literacy issues in communities or clinics or hospitals or states and nations and/or actively conducting health literacy research with people in any context.

I will be in your debt if you could help me by doing just two things that should not take up your time.
1. Respond to the questions - anonymously - yourself.
2. Share this email and the link with your entire network of health literacy professionals.

Here is the link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VXPZJPL

If you have any questions or concerns about this effort, please contact me directly.

Best wishes as always,
Andrew Pleasant, Ph.D.

HIFA profile: Andrew Pleasant is Director of Health Literacy and Research at Canyon Ranch Institute, United States. Professional interests: Health literacy, Prevention of disease, Integrative medicine, Health system reform. andrew AT canyonranchinstitute.org

My source: HIFA.

[ Completed. PJ ]

Rare Diseases Day 2022 - and the FIVE domains

     Self - INDIVIDUAL - Person

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC -----------------------------------  MECHANISTIC    

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

           Family - Community - GROUP - Organisations - Populations

"Learning from the rare disease community

Europe’s pharmaceutical entrepreneurs are taking the lessons learned from this community to develop health innovation which would not have been dreamt of a few decades ago."

 

Yes, they do! 

The sciences (all of them) are a vital domain, but as ever of course we must not let this limit the scope of our collective aspirations when it comes to rare diseases and innovation.

We need to take into account the four domains of Hodges' model plus the spiritual as we address local and global health with rare diseases and disability an intrinsic part of health systems and services whether in delivery or development.

In this way we also acknowledge the role of the social determinants of health and the SDGs.

RARE DISEASES DAY 2022

Image:
https://twitter.com/Parlimag/status/1497156923610836995?s=20&t=dvO5GlugrN185L3Z98k5PA

Previously:

'disease'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=disease

'rare'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=rare

'domain'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=domain

HSJ: Human centred systems - the case for [disintegrated] integration

individual
|

 INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES 

 humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic  

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL 

|

group

Listening, communication slip ups YOU! are a - “bed blocker” “frequent flyer” My purpose Valuable or Vulnerable person? “PROTECT the Person”	Services, Teams, Silos Repeated doubling up, duplication Threshold raising simplify the steps 1940s style factory production line model ? 5-year cycle, interventions, (budget) ? Place-based
Neighbourhoods Anthropology of Communities PUBLIC - 'shared purpose' lived experience - develop a more flexible multidisciplinary workforce coproduction :: purchaser provider led model of commissioning social scaffolding in neighbourhoods -	initiatives Organisation 'INTEGRATE' Sovereignty, governance structures, pooled budgets “PROTECT the NHS” Public Service reform:  local government, dept of work and pensions,  police, housing and community and voluntary organisations.  - joint investment models

 

Human centred systems - the case for integration, By Donna Hall, 15 February 2021. HSJ. https://www.hsj.co.uk/service-design/human-centred-systems-the-case-for-integration/7029472.article 

 

My source: https://twitter.com/antlerboy/status/1392547724201971716?s=20

a Paper: Hodges' model and mental health nursing in bushfire-affected communities

An email from ResearchGate informed me that a co-authored paper:

Doyle, M., Jones, P. (2013). Hodges’ Health Career Model and its role and potential application in forensic mental health nursing. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 20, 7, 631-640.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2012.01961.x/abstract

- had been cited in another publication. A check was rewarded. It always feels good to be able to add a  study to the bibliography listing (please see the sidebar). This is an early view, by Brent Hayward in Australia:

Hayward, B.A. (2020), Mental health nursing in bushfire‐affected communities: An autoethnographic insight. Int J Mental Health Nurs. DOI: 10.1111/inm.12765

What stands out to me are Hayward's profession of mental health nursing within a public educational service and disaster response. I'm not sure how many times I have referred to the generic nature of Hodges' model, but this shift from reading a forensic paper to applying h2cm in disaster response is encouraging. While the immediacy of today's media brings home the catastrophic scale and tragedy of bushfires - work like this also reveals the humanistic side.

The research method of autoethnography has definite currency. Since the MRES at Lancaster, I have wondered if there is any autoethnographic merit in this blog? Hayward has clearly seen the value of the model with regard to reflection and self-reflection. Over the past few years - Brexit, climate change, the bushfires (and California) the importance and relevance of the political domain within Hodges' model continues to increase. (The content of many posts should provide evidence of this.)

It also appears that Hodges' model can draw out the distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal relations and reflexivity. It could be argued that the humanistic-mechanistic axis also demarcates what is intrapersonal and what interpersonal. The latter standing for the (overt) skills so essential to effective mental health nurses. Hence, what are labelled the interpersonal and sociological domains. The combination of autoethnography, gestalt and use of a visual prompt for reflection is also informative and as Hayward notes could provide an avenue for the work of others. ...

"My unsuccessful attempt to locate literature about mental health nursing in bushfire-affected communities caused me to look towards nursing models more broadly. I was drawn to Doyle and Jones’ (2013) paper on the application of Hodges’ Health Career Model in forensic mental health nursing because of its deliberate consideration of political issues. This resonated with me as a public sector employee. Hodges’ model was originally developed in 1983 but has received little attention in the literature. Doyle and Jones’ paper was in response to this deficit, and in this frame, the present study continues this legacy. Hodges’ model is appealing here because of its attention to reflective practice and the theory-practice gap–two purposes which are of particular relevance in the present study." pp.2-3.

"Second is the use of a nursing theory or model to interpret findings. Only Gardner and Lane (2010) used a model, and this was one for clinical supervision rather than mental health nursing practice per se. Mental health nurses who are considering autoethnographic approaches should consider these methodological elements for both rigour and practical purposes. This study has also contributed the second published clinical application of Hodges’ model and its effectiveness here suggests that further exploration of its application would be useful." p.6.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Brent for not only recognising the potential of Hodges' model, but actually applying it in research* and in such a vital context.

Hopefully I can reflect more on what is clearly for Hodges model and the concepts of health career, life chances and global health - a very significant paper.

*See also:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2013/12/papers-actual-post-grad-studies-and.html