20 años del Índice de Desarrollo Humano: el caso de América Latina y el Caribe

La concepción del desarrollo de un individuo como proceso de ampliación de sus capacidades (Sen, 1999) está en el origen del paradigma del desarrollo humano adoptado por el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) en 1990, donde se presentó, contra el criterio de Sen, el denominado Índice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH). Esto respondió a una larga tradición crítica con el PIB per cápita como indicador de desarrollo, que cabe remontar al trabajo seminal de Seers (1969), en el que se reclamó un concepción del desarrollo centrada en “las condiciones universalmente aceptadas para la realización del potencial de la personalidad humana”, y que ahora, tras el revolcón intelectual de la crisis financiera internacional y la gran recesión, parece alcanzar su canonización con una comunicación de la Comisión Europea (2009) que pretende ir más allá del PIB. Teniendo en cuenta que el PIB per cápita es un indicador muy indirecto de bienestar económico y que el IDH pretende medir el proceso de ampliación de capacidades humanas, resulta evidente que ambos no persiguen los mismos objetivos, aunque están claramente relacionados, ya que el desarrollo como crecimiento económico puede conducir a una mejora de las capacidades expresadas en los componentes de salud y educación del IDH, mientras que el capital humano (medido a través de las dimensiones de salud y educación del IDH), a su vez, es un insumo primario para aumentar el PIB per cápita.IDH, América Latina, Caribe, Índice de Desarrollo Humano

Aproximación Psicosocial y de Género al Proyecto Migratorio de Mujeres

Despite a recent increase in both immigration to Spain, and studies on immigrants,research concerning women immigrants has two important biases that prevent correct explanations of the migration, as well as limiting suitable interventions. Firstly, most studies relate to the masculine migratory project. Secondly, the dominance of social, economic and political aspects in the analysis of migratory phenomena means that the macrosocial perspective has been the prevailing focus in the study of this topic.In this paper we adopt a psychosocial and gender based approach to analysis of thesituation of women immigrants. We emphasise the main psychosocial variables thatdefine their migratory project, since it is clear that they are strongly influenced bydifferent factors, linked directly with their women’s condition.In addition, in this paper, we outline some questions that should be considered infuture research in order to achieve a correct understanding of the feminine migratory phenomenon is to be reached, and so that future intervention may increase women immigrant’s satisfaction, quality of life and welfare.A pesar de la presencia cada vez más significativa de mujeres inmigrantes2 en España, se observa en la investigación sobre este tema dos sesgos importantes que impiden una correcta explicación del fenómeno migratorio y una adecuada intervención. En primer lugar, la mayoría de los estudios realizados están relacionados con el proyecto migratorio masculino. En segundo lugar, la importancia que adquieren los aspectos socioeconómicos y políticos en el análisis de los fenómenos migratorios ha hecho que haya sido la perspectiva macrosocial la que ha dominado esta área de estudio.En este artículo se intenta profundizar en el estudio de la mujer inmigrante desde una perspectiva psicosocial y de género, haciendo especial hincapié en las principales variables psicosociales que definen su proyecto migratorio y ubicando dicho proyecto en un enfoque de género, pues no cabe duda que éste se encuentra fuertemente modulado o mediatizado por una serie de factores que proceden directamente de su condición de mujer.Asimismo, en el presente artículo se esbozan algunas cuestiones que se podrían tener en cuenta en las futuras líneas de investigación para lograr una adecuada comprensión del fenómeno migratorio femenino y para dirigir la intervención hacia el incremento de la satisfacción, la calidad de vida y el bienestar de la mujer inmigrante

Recovering the political dimension of human development

RESUMEN: A lo largo de sus veinte años de historia el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) ha sufrido una avalancha de críticas que resultan paralelas a las que en su día recibió el PIB per cápita, frente al cual se rebelaron Dudley Seers, Mahbub ul Haq y Amartya Sen, entre otros, con la visión del desarrollo como proceso de ampliación de las capacidades humanas. Pese al amplio criticismo recibido, el IDH ha sido víctima de su propio éxito: al reducir el desarrollo humano para su medición a una mezcla de medios (ingreso) y fines (educación y salud, como libertades positivas) ha arrinconado la dimensión política del desarrollo humano vinculada a los derechos civiles y políticos (libertades negativas). El objetivo del artículo es recuperar y operacionalizar esta dimensión -que es constitutiva, instrumental y constructiva del desarrollo humano-, mediante la revisión de la doctrina del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, el análisis del pensamiento de Sen del que los informes del PNUD son deudores y la construcción, con datos para América Latina y el Caribe, de un IDHd piloto sensible a la calidad de la democracia.ABSTRACT: hroughout its twenty years history the Human Development Index (HDI) has been the object of a lot of criticisms, parallel to those that the GDP per capita received years ago, that caused the rebellion of Dudley Seers, Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, among others, by means of the conception of development as a process of enhancing human capabilities. Despite the criticisms, the HDI has been a victim of its own success: by reducing human development measurement to a mixture of means (income) and purposes (education and health as positive freedoms) has laid aside the political dimension of development, that is linked to civil and political rights (negative freedoms). The aim is to recover and implement this dimension -which is constitutive, instrumental and constructive of the human development-, throughout the review of the doctrine of the United Nations Program for Development, the analysis of Sen's thought which is the origin of the UNDP reports, and the construction, with data for Latin America and the Caribbean, of the IDHd, an index that is sensitive to the quality of democracy

Recovering the political dimension of human development

RESUMEN: A lo largo de sus veinte años de historia el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) ha sufrido una avalancha de críticas que resultan paralelas a las que en su día recibió el PIB per cápita, frente al cual se rebelaron Dudley Seers, Mahbub ul Haq y Amartya Sen, entre otros, con la visión del desarrollo como proceso de ampliación de las capacidades humanas. Pese al amplio criticismo recibido, el IDH ha sido víctima de su propio éxito: al reducir el desarrollo humano para su medición a una mezcla de medios (ingreso) y fines (educación y salud, como libertades positivas) ha arrinconado la dimensión política del desarrollo humano vinculada a los derechos civiles y políticos (libertades negativas). El objetivo del artículo es recuperar y operacionalizar esta dimensión -que es constitutiva, instrumental y constructiva del desarrollo humano-, mediante la revisión de la doctrina del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, el análisis del pensamiento de Sen del que los informes del PNUD son deudores y la construcción, con datos para América Latina y el Caribe, de un IDHd piloto sensible a la calidad de la democracia.ABSTRACT: hroughout its twenty years history the Human Development Index (HDI) has been the object of a lot of criticisms, parallel to those that the GDP per capita received years ago, that caused the rebellion of Dudley Seers, Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, among others, by means of the conception of development as a process of enhancing human capabilities. Despite the criticisms, the HDI has been a victim of its own success: by reducing human development measurement to a mixture of means (income) and purposes (education and health as positive freedoms) has laid aside the political dimension of development, that is linked to civil and political rights (negative freedoms). The aim is to recover and implement this dimension -which is constitutive, instrumental and constructive of the human development-, throughout the review of the doctrine of the United Nations Program for Development, the analysis of Sen's thought which is the origin of the UNDP reports, and the construction, with data for Latin America and the Caribbean, of the IDHd, an index that is sensitive to the quality of democracy

Women, negative work-home interaction and stress: Impact of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on spanish general and healthcare workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has come to stay, at least for a while. The initial bewilderment and restrictive measures have given way to the population's mental decay and increased stress on workers facing work and family demands in a difficult-to-manage situation. For this reason, this descriptive cross-sectional study sought to analyze stress levels in a sample of 263 general and healthcare workers (from 24 to 67 years of age) and their relationship with negative work-home interaction (WHI) and with gender in the second wave of contagions and deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain (October-December 2020). The results showed that having a higher level of WHI, the presence of work overload, health concerns, economic concerns, and lower-income were predictors of stress among these workers. Age and health-related occupations were contributing factors to work overload and health-related concerns. In addition, the relationship between being a woman and suffering from higher stress levels was mediated by income level, economic concern, and the WHI. Other variables such as having children or dependents, marital status, concern for the health of others, and teleworking were not associated with the stress levels detected in the sample. This research pays attention to the health state of workers beyond the initial stage of the pandemic, where most studies on this issue have concentrated. Thus, this study provides evidence of the uneven impact this crisis has on women and men, contributing to clarifying the relationship between gender, the WHI, and stress

Development and criterion validity of the COVID-19 anxiety and fear assessment scale: a cross sectional study

Background: The emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes COVID-19 disease, has been a major public health challenge and an increase in the feeling of uncertainty of the population, who is also experiencing an increase in levels of anx iety and fear regarding the COVID-19 disease. Objective: The objective of the study was the construct and criterion validation of the Escala de evaluación de la Ansiedad y MIedo a COVID-19 (AMICO, for its acronym in Spanish) to measure both constructs in the general Spanish population Methods: Descriptive study of psychometric validation. A field study was carried out to execute univariate and bivariate analyses, in addition to the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis of the scale. For the criteria validity study, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and sensitivity and specificity values were calculated. Results: The study sample was composed of 1036 subjects over 18 years of age, who resided in Spain, where 56.3% were women with a mean age of 48.11 years (SD =15.13). The study of con struct validity reported two factors and 16 items, with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.92. The scale was concurrently valid with the used gold standard and obtained sensitivity values of 90.48% and specificity values of 76%. Conclusions: The AMICO scale is valid and reliable for assessing the level of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 in the adult Spanish population and is highly sensitive

Construction of an individual socioeconomic status index for analysing inequalities in colorectal cancer screening

Objective: To construct an individual socioeconomic status index (ISESI) with information available in the Population Information System of the Region of Valencia, Spain, and use it to analyse inequalities in a colorectal cancer screening programme (CRCSP). Methods: Cross-sectional study of men and women aged between 50 and 75 at the time of the study (2020) that were selected from the target population of the Region of Valencia CRCSP. (study sample 1,150,684). First, a multiple correspondence analysis was performed to aggregate information from the Population Information System of the Region of Valencia into an ISESI. Second, data from the 2016 Region of Valencia Health Survey were used for validation, and finally the relationship between CRCSP participation and the ISESI was analysed by logistic regression models. Results: The variables included in the index were nationality, employment status, disability, healthcare coverage, risk of vulnerability and family size. The most important categories for determining the highest socioeconomic status were being employed and not being at risk of social vulnerability, and being unemployed and at risk of social vulnerability for determining the lowest socioeconomic status. Index validation demonstrated internal and external coherence for measuring socioeconomic status. The relationship between CRCSP participation and the ISESI categorised by quartile (Q) showed that Q4 (the lowest socioeconomic status) was less likely to participate OR = 0.769 (0.757–0.782) than Q1 (the highest socioeconomic status), and the opposite was found for Q2 OR = 1.368 (1.347–1.390) and Q3 OR = 1.156 (1.137–1.175). Conclusions: An ISESI was constructed and validated using Population Information System data and made it possible to evaluate inequalities in colorectal cancer screening.AMB, DS: PI18/01669, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-founded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). https://www.isciii.es

Molecular characterisation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in the First National Survey of Anti-tuberculosis Drug Resistance from Venezuela

BACKGROUND: Molecular typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains has become a valuable tool in the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) by allowing detection of outbreaks, tracking of epidemics, identification of genotypes and transmission events among patients who would have remained undetected by conventional contact investigation. This is the first genetic biodiversity study of M. tuberculosis in Venezuela. Thus, we investigated the genetic patterns of strains isolated in the first survey of anti-tuberculosis drug-resistance realised as part of the Global Project of Anti-tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance (WHO/IUATLD). RESULTS: Clinical isolates (670/873) were genotyped by spoligotyping. The results were compared with the international spoligotyping database (SpolDB4). Multidrug resistant (MDR) strains (14/18) were also analysed by IS6110-RFLP assays, and resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin was characterised. Spoligotyping grouped 82% (548/670) of the strains into 59 clusters. Twenty new spoligotypes (SITs) specific to Venezuela were identified. Eight new inter-regional clusters were created. The Beijing genotype was not found. The genetic network shows that the Latin American and Mediterranean family constitutes the backbone of the genetic TB population-structure in Venezuela, responsible of >60% of total TB cases studied. MDR was 0.5% in never treated patients and 13.5% in previously treated patients. Mutations in rpoB gene and katG genes were detected in 64% and 43% of the MDR strains, respectively. Two clusters were found to be identical by the four different analysis methods, presumably representing cases of recent transmission of MDR tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: This study gives a first overview of the M. tuberculosis strains circulating in Venezuela during the first survey of anti-tuberculosis drug-resistance. It may aid in the creation of a national database that will be a valuable support for further studies

Clinical and pathological features of Merkel cell carcinoma: A 4-year follow-up observational retrospective study in Spain

Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a malignant skin cancer with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 50%. Knowledge of MCC has increased in recent years mostly due to improved diagnosis techniques. In Spain there is lack of information regarding the incidence and tumour characteristics, and the treatment approaches are not standardised. The objective of this study was to provide information of the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of MCC patients in Spain. Methods: Retrospective, observational study involving 192 patients from 25 Spanish hospitals. Evaluated vari ables included overall survival and incidence rate of Merkel cell polyomavirus, in patients diagnosed from 2012 to 2016. Results: The Spanish incidence rate was estimated 0.32/100,000 inhabitants/year, with variations according to geographical regions, being slightly higher in areas with greater sunlight exposure. In total, 61.5% of tumours showed expansive growth (progressive growth of the tumour), 78.6% showed localisation in UV-exposed skin. 97.4% of patients were diagnosed by excisional biopsy. Surgery was the first line treatment in 96.6% of patients, radiotherapy in 24.6%, and chemotherapy in 6.3%. These treatments were not mutually exclusive. Median overall survival was 38.3 months (78.4% at 12 months and 60% at 24 months). MCPyV was present in 33.8% of patients. Conclusion: The incidence of MCC in Spain is one of the highest in Europe, with a slight predominance in men. The sample has shown that a biopsy is available for diagnosis in most cases. Moreover, the treatment is surgical when the tumour is localized and is associated with lymphadenectomy, and/or it is radiotherapy if widespread