Background: Poverty is the greatest obstacle to the realization of human rights, among which illness is the leading cause in China. In 2015, China began to implement the health poverty alleviation project (HPAP). By 2020, all rural households living below the current poverty level (2300 yuan per person per year) have been lifted out of poverty.
Methods: This study introduces the concept of relative acquisition and constructs a scale based on the capability approach to measure the relative acquisition and compares its fairness of HPAP.
Results: The findings show that the values of the relative acquisition of HPAP in survey areas are all reached middle level (0.4-0.6), with 0 indicating the worst level and 1 indicating the best level. Specifically, the values of the functional activities of "health care", "health ability", "equal treatment opportunities" and "social support" are all above 0.4, while the values of "economic conditions" and "health education" are below 0.4.
Conclusions: The HPAP plays a significant role in reducing the economic burden of disease on patients. However, due to insufficient social support and health education, the HPAP objects lack endogenous motivation to fight against poverty, and the fairness also needs to be improved.
Keywords: Capability approach; Equity; Evaluation; Health poverty alleviation project; Relative acquisition.
© 2022. The Author(s).