Women's Interlaced Freedoms: A Framework Linking Microcredit Participation and Health*

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Abstract
Improving the health of poor women is a public health priority worldwide. In this paper, we focus on microcredit — an intervention not explicitly designed to have an impact on health. Microcredit programmes aim to provide the poor with access to credit, thereby improving their opportunities to engage in productive activities. This paper presents a conceptual framework, inspired by Sen's capability approach, Michael Grossman's health production theory, and models of the determinants and pathways of population health, to assess how participation in microcredit can lead to improvement in the health of poor women. We explore how women's health capabilities (i.e. opportunities to achieve good health), and ultimately their health functionings (e.g. being healthy), can be expanded via key determinants of population health, such as access to resources and autonomy.