How Do I Know If a Health Impact Assessment Is Needed? (50m Lecture)

Health impact assessment (HIA) is an analytical tool that can be incorporated into policy or project decision-making processes prior to implementation. It has been developing internationally for over 20 years and is burgeoning in usage in the United States: in 2007, there were 27 completed HIAs in the United States; in 2013 over 225 HIAs had been completed or were in progress.

This lecture will briefly review the key components of an HIA but will focus on the first phase: screening. This phase considers if there could be significant health effects if a proposed project or policy were implemented and whether an HIA is feasible given the context and resources available. Assuming sufficient information is available to complete the screening, the end result would be a recommendation to either move forward with an HIA (rapid or full) or to not perform an HIA.

Participants will be shown how to perform the screening phase, provided helpful tools, and instructed on interpretation of the findings. Not only is this process a critical first step in performing an HIA, but it is a cost-effective, relatively rapid approach to decide whether to complete an HIA. Even if an HIA is not conducted, the screening may highlight environmental and other potential health impacts that had not previously been associated with the project or policy to stimulate broader dialogue and more informed decision-making.