Health impact assessment in New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand has a history of the assessment of projects for their potential impact on health in the context of the New Zealand Resource Management Act 1991. Health impact assessment (HIA) at policy level is very new, and focuses on high-level policies from outside the health sector. It has largely developed since the Public Health Advisory Committee published its guidance to policy makers in 20041, followed by intensive promotion, capacity building and support to agencies undertaking HIA. (The Public Health Advisory Committee was established under the New Zealand Health and Disability Act 2000 to provide the Minister of Health with independent public health advice.) It is ‘work in progress’ and, as such, the Committee has not yet published any results. The Committee is also collaborating with the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Quigley and Watts Ltd, with advice and support from Deakin University, to deliver HIA training and to support agencies that undertake an HIA. The Committee will review uptake in the second quarter of 2006, the reasons for agencies choosing (or not choosing) to undertake HIA and what changed as a result.