As a public health academic, I would love to see more carving of a niche for WELLBYs. They make a lot of sense for the bio-psycho-social model for health… as they emphasize 2⁄3 of these metrics rather than just one!
To get traction for use, they need to build awareness as a viable alternative. There should be some effort to educate academics and policymakers about the use of WELLBYs as an outcome measure of interest.
I would also like to see research on existing softer interventions that may not impact DALYs but may shift the needle considerably with WELLBYs (or not?).
Off the top of my head- some candidates might be (potential for long-term well-being increases but maybe not disability/death): -iron fortification -access to contraception/ pregnancy termination -deworming (bringing another prong into debates -living with worms is terrible), nutrition programs -increasing sleep quality/supplying simple mattresses -domestic violence interventions/safehouses
Another way to think of interventions for the list is taking away causes of long-term suffering that would be cheap, easy and likely permanent.
HLI’s research overview page mentions that they’re planning to look into the following interventions and policies via the WELLBY lens; there is some overlap with what you mentioned:
Our search for outstanding funding opportunities continues at three levels of scale. These are set out below with examples of the interventions and policies we plan to investigate next.
Micro-interventions (helping one person at a time)
Thanks for spotting and including this Mo! Yes, Dan, at HLI we’re trying to develop and deploy the WELLBY approach and work how much difference it makes vs the ‘business as normal’ income and health approaches. We’re making progress, but it’s not as fast as we’d like it to be!
As a public health academic, I would love to see more carving of a niche for WELLBYs. They make a lot of sense for the bio-psycho-social model for health… as they emphasize 2⁄3 of these metrics rather than just one!
To get traction for use, they need to build awareness as a viable alternative. There should be some effort to educate academics and policymakers about the use of WELLBYs as an outcome measure of interest.
I would also like to see research on existing softer interventions that may not impact DALYs but may shift the needle considerably with WELLBYs (or not?).
Off the top of my head- some candidates might be (potential for long-term well-being increases but maybe not disability/death):
-iron fortification
-access to contraception/ pregnancy termination
-deworming (bringing another prong into debates
-living with worms is terrible), nutrition programs
-increasing sleep quality/supplying simple mattresses
-domestic violence interventions/safehouses
Another way to think of interventions for the list is taking away causes of long-term suffering that would be cheap, easy and likely permanent.
HLI’s research overview page mentions that they’re planning to look into the following interventions and policies via the WELLBY lens; there is some overlap with what you mentioned:
Thanks for spotting and including this Mo! Yes, Dan, at HLI we’re trying to develop and deploy the WELLBY approach and work how much difference it makes vs the ‘business as normal’ income and health approaches. We’re making progress, but it’s not as fast as we’d like it to be!
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat. Michael@happierlivesinstitute.org