Health impact assessment: an introduction to the what, why and how

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that policies, programs and projects within the health and other public and private sectors can have significant and often unintended negative impacts on health and well-being. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is one way of assessing and addressing these impacts prior to implementation. In many countries, including Australia, HIA has traditionally been undertaken as part of environmental impact assessment and translating the HIA process to this broader focus has raised some important issues, particularly whether the 'value add' of HIA outweighs the time and resources required. This paper aims to provide an introduction to HIA, a rationale of why you might use HIA in the project, program or policy development cycle, the steps that are generally followed in undertaking a HIA, and identification of some useful websites. We would encourage you to contribute to the knowledge in this field by 'learning by doing'.