The Search for Underlying Principles of Health Impact Assessment: Progress and Prospects; Comment on “Investigating Underlying Principles to Guide Health Impact Assessment”

Abstract

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a relatively young field of endeavour, and hence, future progress will depend on the planning, implementation and rigorous evaluation of additional HIAs of projects, programmes and policies the world over. In the June 2014 issue of the International Journal of Health Policy and Management, Fakhri and colleagues investigated underlying principles of HIA through a comprehensive review of the literature and expert consultation. With an emphasis on the Islamic Republic of Iran, the authors identified multiple issues that are relevant for guiding HIA practice. At the same time, the study unravelled current shortcomings in the understanding and definition of HIA principles and best practice at national, regional, and global levels. In this commentary we scrutinise the research presented, highlight strengths and limitations, and discuss the findings in the context of other recent attempts to guide HIA.

Participatory quantitative health impact assessment of urban transport planning: A case study from Eastern Africa

“…We translated the survey participants’ IPAQ physical activity data into a metabolic equivalent of tasks per week (MET/hr/week) based on the type of activity practiced (baseline) and mode of transport used ( Table 4 ). The survey participants’ PA data was assumed to represent the overall PA behaviour of the Port Louis adult population ( Assah et al, 2011 , Guthold et al, 2008 , Mbanya et al, 2010 , Christensen et al, 2009 , Luke et al, 2005 , Sobngwi et al, 2002 , Adeloye et al, 2016 , Murray et al, 2015 , Organization, 2015 , Bonnet et al, 2017 , Sperling and Gordon, 2008 , Rwebangira, 2001 , Kudebong et al, 2011 , De Nazelle et al, 2011 , Mueller et al, 2015 , Mueller et al, 2017 , Pereira et al, 2017 , Winkler et al, 2013 , Winkler et al, 2011 , European Centre for Health Policy WHO, 1999 , Nieuwenhuijsen, 2016 , Chang-Hong et al, 2009 , He et al, 2016 , Vu et al, 2013 , Tashayo et al, 2017 , Aggarwal and Jain, 2015 , Mahendra and Rajagopalan, 2015 , Dhondt et al, 2011 , Ongel and Sezgin, 2016 , Guo et al, 2010 Sep , Permadi et al, 2017 , de Sa et al, 2017 , Ren et al, 2016 , Erlanger et al, 2008 , Thondoo et al, 2019 , Rojas-Rueda et al, 2016 , Kinney et al, 2011 , Utzinger et al, 2005 , Winkler and Utzinger, 2014 , Knoblauch et al, 2017 , Gulis and Mochungong, 2013 , O’Keefe and Scott-Samuel, 2010 , Nieuwenhuijsen et al, 2017 , Government of Mauritius, 2015 , World Bank. Countries by Population Density, 2015 , OECD, 2014 , Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, 201...…”

“…One paper collected primary data on air pollution in Kenya, but did not estimate the health outcomes of exposures ( Kinney et al, 2011 ). Some studies have covered HIAs in mining and industry ( Utzinger et al, 2005 , Winkler et al, 2011 , Winkler and Utzinger, 2014 , Knoblauch et al, 2017 ); waste management ( Gulis and Mochungong, 2013 ), and international development projects ( O’Keefe and Scott-Samuel, 2010 ). To bridge scholarly and empirical gaps, we address the question: What are the major risk exposures and health impacts derived from urban transport planning policies in an African city?…”

Systematic Literature Review of Health Impact Assessments in Low and Middle-Income Countries

“…the presence of shared authorship with a foreign institution was checked for. The presence of foreign collaboration is reported as an existing recommendation for HIAs to build cross-national scientific ties that in turn encourage the increase and expansion of HIA implementation [54]. A series of associated factors were inductively generated and systematically applied to all case studies.…”

Mainstreaming health impact assessments in environmental impact statements into planning obligations in post dam construction in Metolong, Lesotho: A qualitative investigation

“…Its aim is to estimate the health effects of projects, programmes and policies in order to minimize potential negative impacts and maximize potential positive impacts (Dannenberg, 2016;Pereira et al, 2017). Because of this potential, the World Health Organization (WHO) and multilateral development banks have been strong and persistent voices calling for the recognition of the role of HIA in development, and, reciprocally, the impact of development on community health (Ison, 2009;Winkler and Utzinger, 2014). The WHO Gothenburg consensus paper of 1999 calls for the mainstreaming of HIAs into development planning to enhance community acceptance of such projects as well as improve their livelihoods (Ison, 2009;Winkler and Utzinger, 2014).…”