Health impact assessment in Latin American countries: Current practice and prospects

Pereira, Carlos; Périssé, André Reynaldo Santos; Knoblauch, Astrid M.; Utzinger, Jürg; Hacon, Sandra de Souza; Winkler, Mirko S.

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2016.09.005

Cited by 20 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This scoping review clarifies the current knowledge about SRH in LAC mining contexts and joins the recent reviews by Drewry, Shandro, and Winkler [ 29 ] and Pereira et al [ 35 ] towards the understanding and assessment of the health impacts of the extractive industries in the region. We found that available research is scarce and provides limited evidence on SRH in LAC mining contexts.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

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What is known about sexual and reproductive health in Latin American and Caribbean mining contexts? A systematic scoping review

Wilches-Gutierrez

Documét

2018

Public Health Rev

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BackgroundLatin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has experienced an unprecedented mining boom since the mid-2000s with unknown effects on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This study takes the essential first steps of summarizing the available literature regarding SRH in mining contexts in LAC, identifying critical gaps in knowledge, and discussing main implications for future research.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review with a systematic search of health literature in four databases, reference lists of selected papers, and citations in Google Scholar.ResultsThe systematic search yielded 592 primary references and 16 articles from LAC. The 11 papers finally selected were conducted in gold-mining contexts in Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, and Colombia, between 1995 and 2016. Ten studies centered on measuring HIV/STD prevalence among mineworkers and other populations; few examined associated risk factors. Eight studies reported high HIV/STD prevalence in the study population. None of the studies explored broader SRH issues.ConclusionsAvailable research is scarce and provides limited evidence on SRH in LAC mining contexts. Critical gaps include little knowledge on (1) broader SRH impacts besides HIV/STDs, (2) SRH in settings different from gold-mining contexts in Amazon countries, (3) mechanisms shaping SRH in LAC mining contexts, and (4) effective interventions in these scenarios. Future research must consider the distinctive demographic, environmental, socioeconomic, and gender dynamics triggered by the mining economy in the analysis of the relationship between mining and SRH, particularly in a period of extractive boom.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…1 ). We eliminated one article without full text and four non-primary papers, which included two recent reviews on health impact assessment related to extractive industries and hydroelectric projects in the region [ 29 , 35 ]. We finally selected 11 primary research articles for analysis.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is known about sexual and reproductive health in Latin American and Caribbean mining contexts? A systematic scoping review

Wilches-Gutierrez

Documét

2018

Public Health Rev

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“…Some of the obstacles to the establishment of HIA in Brazil include ( i ) the demobilization of technical groups within environmental agencies, health and environmental departments; ( ii ) the technical difficulties of the Agency for Law Enforcement and Prosecution of Crimes (“Ministério Público”); ( iii ) a lack of training programs for updating and evaluating professionals from Brazilian environmental and health agencies; and ( iv ) consequently, the lack of commitment of environmental managers. 21-23 Furthermore, in the area of health, there is a lack of a common language regarding the health impacts generated by major projects, as well as the integration of the health and environmental areas into associated proactive and retrospective measures. Politically, the authoritarian character of the federal and state governments, privileging large economic groups in the country and inducing changes in environmental legislation, has weakened the role of regulatory agencies for the national environment policy, leading to their disinterest in the country’s democratic management of social-environmental problems.…”

Section: Obstacles To Implementation Of Health Impact Assessment In Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Prospects for Integrating the Assessment of Health Impacts in the Licensing Process of Large Capital Project in Brazil

Hacon

Périssé

Simos

et al. 2018

Int J Health Policy Manag

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Brazil was one of the first countries in Latin America to institutionalize a National Environmental Policy in 1981, including the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process of economic activities with anticipated impacts on the environment. Today, EIA practice in Brazil comes with a number of limitations: it is constrained by its environmental advocacy role; application is strongly oriented towards large capital projects; and social responsibility considerations are only partially included. Consequently, EIA studies mainly address issues connected to localised and direct environmental impacts, largely ignoring any socio-economic and health impacts. This perspective paper highlights limitations of current EIA practice in Brazil with a focus on health considerations in impact assessment. While recognizing the positive impact to municipalities where large capital projects are being developed and operated, adverse impacts on health are a reality with measurable evidence in Brazil. Therefore, we argue that specificities on how to systematically assess and monitor potential health impacts cannot remain invisible in the Brazilian legislation, as currently seen in the reformulation of the licensing process in the country. The process of better integrating the assessment of health impacts in the licensing process of large capital project in Brazil must, however, not be based on the imposition of an external model but should be promoted by internal stakeholders from the environmental and health sector, incorporating the experiences gained in various case studies from all over the country.

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“…In contrast to EIA, only few countries have established a legal requirement for other forms of impact assessment such as social impact assessment (SIA), strategic environmental assessment (SEA), health impact assessment (HIA) and human rights impact assessment (HRIA), which haveat least partiallyarisen through discontent with EIA practice (Harris-Roxas et al 2012;Salcito et al 2015;Pereira et al 2017). This holds particularly true for Africa, where not a single country is actively promoting HIA through a policy, regulation or another means of endorsement (Winkler et al 2013), although health in the context of natural resource extraction projects is a highly dynamic topic.…”

Section: Health In Impact Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health impact assessment for promoting sustainable development: the HIA4SD project

Winkler

Adongo

Binka

et al. 2019

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

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Health is central to sustainable development, and thus a cross-cutting issue of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030 agenda. Natural resource extraction projects in Africa have considerable potential to impact on health-related targets of the SDGs. This paper introduces the rationale and organization of the HIA4SD Project; a 6-year research for development (r4d) project that aims to inform and facilitate a policy dialogue at the national and international level on whether current regulatory approaches to impact assessment in Africa promote sustainable development, placing emphasis on SDG3 Good Health and Well-being. The HIA4SD Project has a focus on large-scale natural resource extraction projects and is implemented in four African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania.

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Health impact assessment in Latin American countries: Current practice and prospects

Cited by 20 publications

References 36 publications

What is known about sexual and reproductive health in Latin American and Caribbean mining contexts? A systematic scoping review

What is known about sexual and reproductive health in Latin American and Caribbean mining contexts? A systematic scoping review

Challenges and Prospects for Integrating the Assessment of Health Impacts in the Licensing Process of Large Capital Project in Brazil

Health impact assessment for promoting sustainable development: the HIA4SD project

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