The growing caseload of chronic life-long conditions calls for a move towards full self-management in low-income countries

Josefien van Olmen, Grace Marie Ku, Raoul Bermejo, Guy Kegels, Katharina Hermann, Wim Van Damme

The growing caseload caused by patients with chronic life-long conditions leads to increased needs for health care providers and rising costs of health services, resulting in a heavy burden on health systems, populations and individuals. The professionalised health care for chronic patients common in high income countries is very labour-intensive and expensive. Moreover, the outcomes are often poor. In low-income countries, the scarce resources and the lack of quality and continuity of health care result in high health care expenditure and very poor health outcomes. The current proposals to improve care for chronic patients in low-income countries are still very much provider-centred.The aim of this paper is to show that present provider-centred models of chronic care are not adequate and to propose 'full self-management' as an alternative for low-income countries, facilitated by expert patient networks and smart phone technology.