Like many experts and institutions in global health, we use “disability-adjusted life years” (DALYs) as a way to measure the burden of a health condition. An intervention that improves health will thereby reduce DALYs.
It’d be awesome for OP to explore in parallel other cause areas and interventions that the DALY misses, such as less prevalent conditions inflicting very severe suffering. Otherwise, we risk neglecting those who are worst off.
This is an interesting area to explore, and something that is rare in conversation in GHW. I appreciate your work in quantifying and standardizing additional measures.
Thanks so much for sharing these resources!!
It’d be awesome for OP to explore in parallel other cause areas and interventions that the DALY misses, such as less prevalent conditions inflicting very severe suffering. Otherwise, we risk neglecting those who are worst off.
I make this case in my paper “The Heavy Tail of Extreme Pain Exacerbates Health Inequality: Evidence from Cluster Headache Underinvestment” (forthcoming in “Nature: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications”). My post “How much should we value averting a Day Lived in Extreme Suffering (DLES)?” also touches on some of these themes.
This is an interesting area to explore, and something that is rare in conversation in GHW. I appreciate your work in quantifying and standardizing additional measures.