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. 2020 Apr 25;17(9):2988.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17092988.

Current Global Health Impact Assessment Practice

Mirko S Winkler  1   2 , Peter Furu  3 , Francesca Viliani  4 , Ben Cave  5   6   7 , Mark Divall  8 , Geetha Ramesh  9 , Ben Harris-Roxas  7   10 , Astrid M Knoblauch  1   2
Affiliations

Current Global Health Impact Assessment Practice

Mirko S Winkler et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Health impact assessment (HIA) practice has expanded across the world, since it was established more than two decades ago. This paper presents a snapshot of current global HIA practice based on the findings of an online questionnaire survey. HIA practitioners from all world regions were invited to participate. A total of 122 HIA practitioners from 29 countries completed the survey, following a broad international outreach effort. The large variety in the types of HIAs conducted, and the application of HIA in various fields reported by respondents, demonstrates that HIA practice has evolved over the past two decades. Although differences in the use of HIA were reported across world regions, an overall increasing trend in global HIA practice can be observed. In order to sustain this upward trend, efforts are needed to address the main barriers in the utilisation of HIA. The establishment of new national and international HIA teaching and training offerings seems to be an obvious strategy to pursue along with the strengthening of policies and legal frameworks that specify the circumstances, under which HIA is required, and to what extent.

Keywords: determinants of health; health impact assessment; planetary health; sustainable development goals.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors are IAIA members and have done HIA-related work for the private sector, government agencies, development banks, or multinational organisations.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Origin countries of respondents; and (b) the number of respondents per region with corresponding years of HIA practice experience.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Regions where HIA assignments were conducted; and (b) fields of HIA application.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Types of health assessments conducted; and (b) decision-maker on type of health assessment to conduct.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) HIA practitioners who have ever had an HIA training; and (b) were engaged as HIA training facilitator.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Institutions of HIA teaching and training.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Trends in HIA use perceived by HIA practitioners with experience in the respective regions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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