While considering someone else's perspective, it is also important to extend care and respect as "ubuntu means believing in other people, regardless of who they are and what their role is in life" (p. 75). This means also extending that same care and consideration to ourselves, which can feel like a selfish act. It is a challenge to care for others when we are also in need of care.
The World Health Organization considers malnutrition to be one of the most damaging threats we face as a species, both in a lack of access to affordable food sources and the uneven distribution of them. An inequitable access to food sources and the resulting health issues serves as a potential limit to the role of "self-care." It is difficult to consider other life challenges and the security of others, when faced with a lack of access to food and medical care necessary for health living.
There is also research on the role of individualism in creating communities of people who are unable/uninterested in caring for others and the effect that has.
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