Health Impact Assessment and its Association with the Environment: an integrative review

Abstract

To identify and analyze the contents of scientific literature on Health Impact Assessment in relation to the environment. An integrative literature review carried out by searching for studies in the Periodicals Portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. A total of 38 studies were included; the period with the greatest number of publications was between 2012 and 2014, with studies developed mainly in Europe and North America. The categories that emerged were Health Impact Assessment practice; Health Impact Assessment and Urban Planning; Environmental Impact Assessment and Health Impact Assessment; and Environment and Health. There is a movement for the integration of Health Impact Assessment into Environmental Impact Assessment and the consequent institutionalization of that integration since Environmental Impact Assessment already has a consolidated legal base.