Health assessment and the capability approach

Rodrigo López Barreda,Joelle Robertson-Preidler,Paula Bedregal García

doi:10.1080/11287462.2019.1673028

Rodrigo López Barreda, Joelle Robertson-Preidler + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/11287462.2019.1673028

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Abstract

ABSTRACTHealth has an important role in the achievement of a good quality of life. Many public policies intended to enhance individual and population health. Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) offers a framework to assess well-being, as well as interventions seeking to increase it. There are, however, important practical challenges that must be faced before applying CA to concrete situations, such as health. One of these challenges is defining whether it is functioning or a capability that is the feature to be assessed. Moreover, some aspects of freedom that are relevant for CA are frequently neglected, such as agency. These aspects must be considered when performing a health assessment using the CA as a framework. A health assessment using the CA as a framework should include indicators based on the achieved dimension (health functioning), resources and conversion factors (health capability), and freedom to achieve (agency).

Highlights

Health is a central feature for achieving a high quality of life
Health assessment has been a major concern for researchers and scholars, and there is a huge amount of literature on the theoretical and technical aspects of this challenge
Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) offers a framework to assess human well-being (Anand, Hunter, & Smith, 2005), including health, which has been extensively used in the analysis of public policies and in academic research

Summary

Introduction

Health is a central feature for achieving a high quality of life. Health assessment has been a major concern for researchers and scholars, and there is a huge amount of literature on the theoretical and technical aspects of this challenge. This paper reflects on the assessment of health from a CA perspective, including the distinction between health as a functioning and health as a capability, and the role of agency in this important dimension of human well-being. Resources and conversion factors can help or impede the ability to transform capabilities into functionings (Robeyns, 2005).

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Conclusion