Integrating Health Impact Assessment with the Policy Process

Book excerpt: Health Impact Assessment is a policy-support instrument and approach that seeks to assess the health impacts of projects, programmes and policies on population health. The ultimate goal of HIA is to systematically predict health impacts and subsequently inform the intersectoral decision- and policy-making processes of these impacts. Integrating Health Impact Assessment with the Policy Process examines how the process of integrating HIA with policy can take place. Introductory chapters outline the HIA process and provide a conceptual foundation for the book. Then, drawing from experiences of HIA practice and research globally, country specific experiences are presented to examine HIA's relationship with the policy process. Throughout the book checklists and learning points are provided to assist the readers' understanding of the concepts and examples discussed. This practical and conceptually-grounded guide represents a convergence of theory and practice from the disciplines of public health, environmental health and the social sciences, and will appeal to practitioners and professionals in these fields, as well as policy-makers, decision-makers, planners at regional and national government levels as well as academics, educators and students.