Health impact assessment institutionalisation in France: state of the art, challenges and perspectives

Abstract

Rennes(France) and head of the department "Social and human sciences". She holds a doctorate in Medicine, a PhD in Public Health and a Master's degree in Anthropology. After several years of clinical medical practice, she spent ten years in Africa, as public health practitioner. Then, she was posted five years in regional institution (French Ministry of Health). She provides training on Health policies, Evaluation and Health impact assessment and carries out research in both these fields. She leads the French HIA community of practice.

Planetary health: Creating rapid impact assessment tools

“…First, according to the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the United States, HIA and EIA should be conducted in combination (Collins and Koplan, 2009); however, when they are, health impacts are not always systematically considered or a narrow definition of health impact is used which only focuses on toxic exposure and safety issues (Bhatia and Wernham, 2008; Linzalone et al, 2019; Noble and Bronson, 2005). The difficulty of integrating the consideration of health impacts in EIA has been raised in other contexts (Jabot and Rivadeneyra-Sicilia, 2022). Several difficulties are mentioned.…”

“…If in principle HIA adopts a broad definition of health determinants, a comprehensive approach to health is still mostly non-existent (Bhatia and Wernham, 2008). One possible explanation cited for this omission is the lack of expertise and guidance (Jabot and Rivadeneyra-Sicilia, 2022; McCaig, 2005). In addition, HIA often excludes socio-economic determinants of health, leading to recommendations that potentially increase social inequities, which are known to have a negative impact on health (Buregeya et al, 2019; McCallum et al, 2018).…”

“…In addition, HIA often excludes socio-economic determinants of health, leading to recommendations that potentially increase social inequities, which are known to have a negative impact on health (Buregeya et al, 2019; McCallum et al, 2018). Biophysical, mental, and social health determinants that more fully reflect human health and well-being should be simultaneously valued and integrated (Buregeya et al, 2019; Bhatia and Wernham, 2008; Jabot and Rivadeneyra-Sicilia, 2022; Linzalone et al, 2019).…”