COVID-19 pandemic awakens potential of self-care market

How did the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the importance of self-care?

In a world of scarce resources, self-care and responsible self-medication form an important cornerstone of healthcare provision and health policy, supporting healthcare systems sustainability. The COVID-19 pandemic did highly the importance of self-care. Physical distancing, good respiratory hygiene and hand washing are important examples of self-care actions you can take every day to protect against COVID-19.

When the pandemic emerged with the social distancing policies, people started realizing the importance of taking care of their own and their family’s health. Awareness among the population is increasing to lifestyle diseases, prevention and self-care.

 As chronic conditions become more common, encouraging safe and responsible self-care was vitally important for safeguarding public health and ensuring efficient health systems. But to ensure safe and responsible self-care, people need access to reliable self-care options and information on how to these options appropriately.

Self-care is of great importance. As such, how have advanced countries in the world benefited from this trend?

Self-care is a sustainable trend of the world. This trend is creating strong positive effects. The United States saved $146 billion by using over-the-counter drugs instead of prescription drugs. Labor productivity here also increased by about $23 billion thanks to reduced medical appointments and leave.

In Europe, the shift of investment from prescription drugs to over-the-counter medicines has saved the health system 16 billion euros. In Brazil, it is estimated that the whole country can save 601 million USD annually by reducing hospital or clinic visits.

How much money do you think Vietnam will save when self-care is widely applied?

In fact, Vietnamese people have been practicing self-care in many ways, such as using traditional medicine or buying medicine online. In urban areas, up to 76% of Vietnamese use Selfcare, this figure is 60% in rural areas.

However, these activities are still not formal, so the effectiveness has not reached the optimal level, not to mention spontaneous measures that have the potential to cause harm if people do not apply them correctly.

The younger generation of Vietnamese is gradually transitioning to a healthier lifestyle and making wise choices in health matters. This is reflected through trends such as increasing use of clean products, organic foods, vitamin and cosmetics.

In Vietnam, the concept of Self-Care already exists, and we acknowledge government-supported initiatives to make this happen step by step. In 2019, Vietnam launched the “Suc khoe Viet Nam” program, a national campaign to promote healthy living. This is a good start to Self-Care, but we believe it can open even more value.

Vietnam has the potential to reap many economic benefits from Self-Care by improving the nation's medical literacy and expanding access to cost-effective treatments.

It is estimated that this solution can bring $4.2 billion in annual economic benefits and the national health system budget can save $0.6 billion by cutting unnecessary medical fees.

In addition, Self-Care also brings other benefits such as improving health quality, reducing costs, improving labor productivity, developing the micro-economy, and even making a positive contribution to the tax budget.

What strategy is Sanofi implementing to contribute to realizing this vision in Vietnam?

Sanofi has always pursued scientific discoveries to improve human health now and in the future.

In Vietnam in particular and on a global scale in general, Sanofi always sets a clear goal and works towards comprehensive health care to bring a healthier and more fulfilling life. We are always working for the consumer benefit. Sanofi is making unremitting efforts to give Vietnamese people more medical options at a more reasonable cost.

This is the catalyst for Vietnam to realize its socio-economic goals according to the 4.0 model such as hunger eradication, poverty reduction, unemployment rate reduction, productivity improvement and education improvement.

This is clearly reflected in difficult times such as during the COVID pandemic. The private sector, including the presence of Sanofi, is always ready to accompany the Government of Vietnam. We strive to build the best Fast Consumer Healthcare company brand in Vietnam and for Vietnam.