Disability Adjusted Life Years in a Regional and Cultural Perspective. : Who Should weight the disabilities?
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The concept of disability adjusted life years (DALY) came forward in the early 1990’s to be used as a measurement of the burden of disease. The DALY combines the burden with regard to premature death and years lived with a disease. Much criticism has been raised since then with regard to e.g. ethics. This thesis focuses on the lack of contextual aspects of the DALY-concept because the measurement has a universal standard for all diseases in all countries. One aim of the study is to describe how regional and cultural context influence the view of disability and therefore contradicts with the underlying approaches of the DALY-concept. The regional and cultural differences are illustrated by examples like paraple-gia. Published burden of disease studies are examined for contextual considerations. The conclusion of the analysis is that regional and cultural issues are not taken into ac-count when using the DALY-approach of health assessments in public health. The second aim of the study is to discuss who should value the life of disabled. Follow-ing the transition of health, different views of fair health have developed and the need of health care. Underlying this assessment is an implicit valuation of disabilities among lay-people and health care professionals. If one uses DALY as a general measurement for the burden of disease and prioritising resources for disabled it is discussed who should be involved in the calculation of disability weights and a model for the collabo-ration is described. The conclusion is that lay people must be involved in a facilitated process. Overall the thesis show that the development of DALY is a serious attempt to give a simple tool for understanding and prioritise the complex challenges in public health. At present, an agenda for development of contextual DALY’s is needed.
Author: Morten Gunnersen
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W593131477