Health Impact Assessment Blog: February 2010

26 February 2010

Good Practice Guidance on HIA of Mining and Metals Projects

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has just published its guidance on HIA. Click here to go ICCM news page.

IOM with the support of Martin Birley and Judith Ball - with peer review from Mark Divall, Ben Harris-Roxas, Francesca Viliani and Aaron Wernham - helped ICMM produce this guide.

A few of the interesting and innovative things in the guide that are worth highlighting are:

It provides a developed and developing country perspective with a strong focus on social determinants.
It advocates for the mainstreaming of iterative 'first look' in-house rapid HIAs that are undertaken by HSE teams during the early internal feasibility and planning stages of a project that are followed up with more formal external commissioned HIAs and ESHIAs.
It incorporates a competency framework for commissioners to consider when recruiting HIA consultants.
It develops a Hierarchy of Health Enhancement that sits alongside the existing Hierarchy of (Health Risk Mitigation) that is used in Occupational Risk Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessments/Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessments for considering mitigation and enhancement measures.
It highlights the link between occupational health risk assessment and (community) health impact assessment.

This guide is accompanied by a sister publication on Good Practice Guidance for Occupational Health Risk Assessment in the Mining and Metals Sector.

19 February 2010

A different take on promoting wellbeing?

This piece first appeared on Croakey, The Crikey Health Blog

Can you think of five things you can do to improve your health and well-being? If your list looks something like mine, it will involve exercising more, eating better, sleeping longer, spending more time with friends and family, and being less stressed. Laudable goals, but are they achievable?

As health professionals we rely on evidence when coming up with interventions to improve well-being. What would an evidence-based list look like?

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) in the UK has tackled this task. Their list includes:

Connect…
With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
Be active…
Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy; one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
Take notice…
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are on a train, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
Keep Learning…
Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident, as well as being fun to do.
Give…
Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and will create connections with the people around you.

This isn’t some Sunday newspaper mind-body-spirit liftout list.

All of the NEF report’s actions are underpinned by a solid evidence base. The actions were each selected because they could be acted upon, they act as a buffer for mental ill-health, and they enhance well-being.

What’s striking about the list developed by NEF is that it goes beyond the health messages most of us hear and that governments promote. How many of the NEF list’s actions do we encounter in health social marketing campaigns? The “be active” message is reasonably well understood, but what about the others?

The other thing that’s striking about the list is that the actions don’t just benefit individuals. There would be substantial benefits to families and communities if we connected more with each other, volunteered more, and kept learning.

The NEF report has a number of limitations and the authors, Jody Aked, Nic Marks, Corrina Cordon and Sam Thompson, recognise these.

It doesn’t include important factors that can be beyond individuals’ control, such as work environments, nutrition, access to green space, and where people live. As such it’s not a comprehensive list of actions that are required to promote well-being, or an exhaustive list of the things that the health and social service sectors need to do.

If we took promoting well-being seriously, our health social marketing campaigns would look quite different. This list of five simple, practical actions provides a different vision of how we can promote well-being.

We can do more than bashing people over the head with negative messages about what they’re not doing.

There have been a number of interesting comments about this on Croakey. It's worth taking a look.

18 February 2010

WHO Internships on Health Equity, 2010-2011 including HIA

The details for the internships are:

The Equity Analysis and Research Unit within the Information, Evidence and Research Cluster's Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, is offering several exciting internship opportunities during 2010-2011. Internships are ideally three months, with the possibility for extension, and can take place any time of the year.

All of the unit's work aims to contribute to the reduction of health inequities within and across countries. Impacts expected by 2015 include:

WHO core statistics and research policies will mainstream and highlight health equity
National and international negotiations will include an assessment of health equity impacts of proposed policy options
Global health accountability mechanisms (such as MDGs) will integrate monitoring of the distribution of health within countries
Member States will increase their decision-making capabilities to reduce health inequities reflecting global evidence and local knowledge

The unit works with others to:

Develop objective indicators for global and national monitoring of health equity and social determinants of health
Introduce evidence on health equity impacts into policy-making and evaluation processes
Support research to evaluate policies and interventions from an equity perspective
Support countries to develop local innovations, tools and policy options to reduce inequities
Participate in policy negotiations of other UN agencies
Share valid national and regional data, analysis and intelligence
Strengthen research capacities and collaborations around the world in these areas

What interns could do:

Under the supervision of the unit coordinator and working with other staff, the intern will play a key role in supporting projects in analysis and research to improve equity. S/he will work closely with other staff in the department, be introduced to other relevant staff across WHO and external experts, and gain first-hand experience in one of three key areas.

Health Impact Assessment - integrating equity orientation
Provide support in the strengthening of mechanisms to conduct equity focused HIA to change policies, programs and other interventions outside of the health sector to increase pro-health equity impacts. The intern's work will inform a new Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centers on Equity and Health, that will test newmechanisms in 10 countries during 2010 and 2011.
Scientific Resource Group (SRG) on Equity Analysis and Research
Work with leading international experts on a new WHO SRG that is chaired by Cesar Victora and includes five sub-groups. An intern could support one of the subgroup'sprojects, for example:
• develop new guidelines on how WHO should monitor and report on health inequities within and across countries;
• review the 8 MDG goals, 21 targets and some 60 indicators to document which ones are reported at the sub-national level by different agencies and countries;
• document approaches to increase urban monitoring and integration of equity disaggregated statistics covering a range of social and economic determinants of health;
• develop a policy brief and background document on approaches to influence national research policies to integrate equity and health perspectives;
• further synthesize evidence on how a large, condition-specific program (such as child health, tropical diseases, malaria, or reproductive health, among others) can improve its equity impact - expanding beyond reaching the poor;
• Support a call for research to be conducted by Civil Society Organizations, to evaluate their interventions from an equity perspective; support preparing background paper, setting up the review and selection process
Equity effectiveness evaluation
Contribute towards new methods and approaches to increase integration of equity impact (e.g. distributional impact) with effectiveness analysis - in the evaluation of policies, programmes and interventions. This would build on benefit-incidence and other analysis that provide a quantitative approach to integrate equity within evaluation

Interns typically contribute to some or all of the following responsibilities:

review literature
undertake research in a particular subject area
collate information on topics related to the subject area
organize data and documents
support the development of tools and guidelines
draft reports
discuss issues with external experts and WHO staff in other offices
participate in on-going departmental projects
make presentations on work in progress and completed

Overall objectives of the WHO Internship Program:

These include: to enhance individuals' educational experiences through practical work assignments; to expose students to the work of WHO; and to provide WHO programmes with the assistance of individuals (enrolled in training programs) specializing in various fields.

Required Qualifications

Education:

Applicants must be enrolled in a degree programme in a graduate school (second
university degree or higher) both at the time of application and during the internship
Applicants pursuing their studies in countries where higher education is not divided
into undergraduate and graduate stages must have completed at least three years of
full-time studies at a university or equivalent institution towards the completion of a
degree.
A minimum of 20 years of age
Possess a first degree in a public health, medical or social field related to the technical
work of WHO.
Fluent in the working language of the office of assignment

Experience:

Excellent writing skills
Experience in research and in drafting reports
Experience in the subject area through academic work or research would be an
advantage
Experience in statistical analysis using STATA, SPSS, or SAS
Experience in conducting Health Impact Assessments would be preferred

Skills:

All interns should possess the following skills in line with the WHO core competencies:

Communicating effectively orally and in writing
Showing willingness to learn from mistakes
Producing and delivering quality results
Working collaboratively with team members
Respecting and promoting difference

Conditions of WHO Headquarters internships:

The duration of WHO internships is between a minimum of 6 weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks. Exceptionally, internships may be extended up to 24 weeks to respond to special academic requirements or particular needs of the receiving programme.
WHO internships are not paid. Travel costs, travel arrangements (including visas), and living accommodations are the responsibility of the intern or their sponsoring institution.
Persons related to a WHO staff member, i.e., son/daughter, brother/sister are not eligible for an internship.
WHO Interns must have adequate medical insurance coverage during the entire period of the internships. This medical coverage must include Switzerland.
Interns may participate only once in the WHO Internship Programme.
Interns do not have the status of WHO staff members and shall not represent the Organization in any official capacity.
WHO Interns are not eligible for appointment to any position within WHO for a period of three months following the end of their internship. Any employment with WHO at that point in time shall be subject to established recruitment and selection procedures.

How to apply:

Direct applications to the unit are possible, with no specific deadline. Please consider
that it can takes approximately two months to set up the internship so apply early. Send a
cover letter indicating when you would be available, which projects interest you, and a short
CV, directly to the unit: equity@who.int

Social Media and Public Health: Should we drink the Kool-Aid?

Social media is getting increased attention within public health, some five years after the rise (and fall?) of blogging. But should we all uncritically embrace social media?

I've been an advocate for using new forms of media. I had an experience last week that gave me pause for thought however, and made me think that we shouldn't forget the established modes of communication yet.

I twitter quite a lot, and this usually results in around 800 clickthroughs to links I post per week. Last week I decided to send around an email "round-up" that contained some of the more interesting links I'd posted to twitter in the previous two weeks - you can find it here. I then distributed it directly to 800 people on our e-newsletter list and via various email listservs:

The graph below shows what happened.

In three days there were almost 11,000 clicks. That's as much as I get in 12 weeks of twittering. Further, each individual link I post on twitter usually gets between 20 and 50 clicks. Every link included in the email round-up got in excess of 400.

The audiences for this blog, the twitter account and the email are predominantly groups of already-interested professionals. This is of course very different to the one being pursued through mass social marketing campaigns targeting the public about vaccination, outbreaks and health promotion.

It's great that serious thought is being given to public health communication within a shifting information landscape. We just need to remember that email and even print (gasp!) still have considerable reach.

So drink the social media Kool-Aid, just in moderation.

17 February 2010

HIA Blog names in top 50 healthcare costs & public policy blogs

We've been named as one of the top 50 blogs on healthcare costs & public policy. To be honest I'm surprised that there are 50 blogs on-topic. Nonetheless it's an interesting list, and many of the blogs are worth taking a look at

12 February 2010

What does the Marmot Review mean for Australia?

This piece originally appeared on Croakey, the Crikey Health Blog

The Marmot Review is a far-reaching review that conclusively sets out the case for tackling health inequities. It sets out a reform agenda for England that’s focused on giving every child the best start to life; ensuring work, income, and living standards; and giving higher priority to preventing ill-health.

This is actually the third major review into inequalities in England, the first one was The Black Report in 1980 and the second one was undertaken by Donald Acheson in 1998. Since then there has been considerable sustained effort to tackle health inequities, though this effort has tended to focus on promoting equal opportunities for health as opposed to the more far-reaching reforms called for in the Marmot Review. Progress on the UK government targets have been mixed, at times.

What’s interesting is that though England has been more politically willing to tackle health inequities, it hasn’t been the only place that has been trying to do so. Europe and increasingly the US are getting serious about the implications of health inequalities.

Health inequalities have been on the Australian public health radar for more than two decades. A 2002 paper estimated that 5,000 people go to “unnecessarily early graves” every year in New South Wales alone due to avoidable health inequalities.

But Australia’s health inequities are different to England’s. On one hand, we’ve historically had less income inequality, which is closely linked to health inequality. On the other hand, Aboriginal health is amongst the worst in the world. Yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Closing the Gap – Prime Minister’s Report 2010 report shows that governments in Australia are capable of making commitments to act on important inequalities if the issues are recognised.

Australia has made some progress on addressing health equity. Several Australian states have health equity policies, and equity is a professed value that underpins most Australian health systems.

The Marmot Review also call for health equity impact assessments of all government policies, which is an area of interest of mine. Australia is one of the few places in the world that has attempted to put this into practice through the development of an equity focused health impact assessment framework.

The challenge for us is to move beyond rhetoric. It’s easy for everyone to agree that we need a healthier and fairer society until we ask them to do things differently, as I’m sure many climate change activists would agree. If we want to continue to make improvements to the health of the population we’ve got to get serious about reducing unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes.

Though it's a substantial body of work the Marmot Review is not perfect. It skims over what I believe are some of the most important aspects of addressing health inequities:

ensuring communities are actively involved in health system decision-making;
recognising the vital role of primary health care in addressing inequities; and
building the capacity of government to recognise and act on equity issues.

Given that the state, territory and Commonwealth Health Ministers are meeting today, they would do well to consider what targets they can set for reducing health inequities. A high profile inter-governmental review might help them.”

11 February 2010

Marmot Review calls for Health Equity Impact Assessment: What does this mean for us?

The Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post 2010, known as the Marmot Review, was published today:

www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview

It sets out several priorities for redressing health inequities in England, including:

Giving every child the best start in life (highest priority recommendation) - increasing the proportion of overall expenditure allocated to the early years and ensure expenditure on early years development is focused progressively across the social gradient.
Enabling all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives - reducing social inequalities in pupils’ educational outcomes; prioritise reducing social inequalities in life skill.
Creating fair employment and good work for al.
Ensuring a healthy standard of living for all minimum income for healthy living
Creating and developing sustainable places and communities
Strengthening the role and impact of ill-health prevention - core efforts of public health departments focused on interventions related to the social determinants of health proportionately across the gradient

Of interest to HIA practitioners, the review promotes as health equity impact assessment. These sections are below and were identified by Debbie Fox from Liverpool University:

National and regional leadership should promote awareness of the underlying social causes of health inequalities and build understanding across the NHS, local government, third sector and private sector services of the need to scale up interventions and sustain intensity using mainstream funding. p34

Interventions should have an evidenced-based evaluation framework and a health equity impact assessment. p34

Research on health interventions should include health equity impact assessments. p146

There should also be an explicit requirement that all government policies and strategies be subject to a health equity impact assessment. p152

All national and local policies and strategies should be routinely scrutinised through a health equity impact assessment. p152

The policy emphasis should address how mainstream spending can best be utilised to reduce health inequalities, rather than relying on new project funding. Interventions should be implemented with an evidence-based evaluation framework, incorporating a health impact assessment. Such action would inform public debate on the effectiveness of policies and disinvestment and investment for future delivery p153

These recommendations are of course welcome. I imagine there will be some consternation about what "health equity impact assessments of research on health interventions" actually means, as it's at odds with common practitioner understanding of the purpose of HIA. HIAs are undertaken on proposals that are yet to be implemented, rather than on new research and knowledge per se.

Health equity impact assessment has previously been operationalised as equity focused health impact assessment. Anyone interested in assessing the health equity impacts should refer to the Equity Focused Health Impact Assessment Framework or completed HIAs reports with an equity focus.

Conference: The Social Determinants of Mental Health - From Awareness to Action, Chicago 3-4 June

Exploring the ways social context impacts mental health and well-being

June 3-4th 2010

Chicago, USA

The purpose of the conference is to increase awareness about how social conditions, such as housing quality, land use, food security, employment opportunity, working conditions, the environment, public safety, and public service systems, impact mental health and well-being; and to create multidisciplinary collaborations to develop new knowledge and practice innovations that are informed by the social determinants framework.

For more information and conference registration, please go to www.regonline.com/sdomh2010conference

10 February 2010

Health Impact Assessment Round-Up

This is a collection of HIA-related links, news and events that have recently caught the eyes of the HIA & Healthy Public Policy Team at the Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation (CHETRE).

We're in the process of finalising the next UNSW HIA eNews. Do you have any news or resources you'd like to share? Email us

Health Impact Assessment

Health Effects Assessment Tool: A Guide for assessing health impacts of resource projects http://bit.ly/9yaP82 by Tania Barron, Marla Orenstein and Ame-Lia Tamburrini
Keynote presentations from the HIA '09 Conference in Rotterdam http://icio.us/fo5fxq
Competency Framework for Health Impact Assessment, as discussed at HIA09 conference http://icio.us/rjhitd
HIA Report: HIA of the Herne Bay Area Action Plan by Kent PCT http://bit.ly/aOKJJp
Salim and Gifty from the Centre for HIA at the Institute of Occupational Medicine have been doing a huge amount of work on the health impact assessment wiki http://bit.ly/ac6nOM
Pittsburg Railroad Ave Specific Plan HIA [USA] http://bit.ly/d8tqlc
New Gold Coast City Council (Australia) Social & Health Impact Assessment Policy out for comment 'til 1 March '10 [PDF] http://bit.ly
Thailand: "Map Ta Phut panel wants to revive buffer zone" http://bit.ly/cShSe6 Having been there, an expanded buffer is desperately required.
New HIA Gateway Resources http://bit.ly/ceArLZ
New Zealand HIA newsletter for Feb 2010 [PDF] http://bit.ly/arQqFX
Did you know there's a public calendar for HIA events? http://bit.ly/boZ812
HIA Best Practice Sharing Workshop in Wales 2009 - Presentations now online! http://bit.ly/7ZP7T5

Evidence Reviews and Summaries

Health Impacts of Wind Energy: A rapid review, by Erica Ison http://icio.us/v4v2su
Evidence on Recycling and Health - Review commissioned by the HIA Gateway http://icio.us/ymfjmj

Jobs & Other Opportunities

Consultancy: WHO Seeks Environmental Impact Assessment Consultant for Health Sector http://bit.ly/baktfP
Senior Consultant - Health & Social Impact Assessment (Perth, Australia) http://bit.ly/cStOOk
Project Manager HIA of California Cap and Trade HIA: http://bit.ly/du2jvq
PhD Studentship at University of York: Social Gradients of Child Wellbeing in Relation to Inequality http://bit.ly/akPzbm

Conferences & Events

Short course on IFC Performance Standards 6 March, coincides with Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Conference http://bit.ly/bnbSVy
Marmot and the Third Sector: Addressing Health Inequalities Together, London 9 March http://bit.ly/9lOE6w
Fifth EU Ministerial Conference on environment and health, Parma, Italy, 10-12 March 2010 http://bit.ly/aAWHej (Keep an eye out for media reports)
Conference: Equality and inequality in health: Measuring and commissioning for equity, London, 11 March 2010 http://bit.ly/9pOtSz
Canadian NCCHPP workshop on "Deliberating to Inform Decision-making" in Montréal, 12 March http://bit.ly/aVuHBW
Canadian Conference on Global Health 2010: The Call for Abstracts for Papers and Posters, due 29 March http://bit.ly/dq1CLE
Prevention and health inequalities : Cost-effective and evidence-based solutions, London, 30 March 2010 http://bit.ly/cN3Y57
What is Evidence-Informed Decision Making? Five Day Workshop in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 10-14 May http://bit.ly/aJX9bq
Sustainability Assessment Symposium: Towards Strategic Assessment for Sustainability, Perth 25-26 May 2010 http://bit.ly/cBGsA5
Double IAIA Symposia Climate Change & Impact Assessment. Aalborg, Denmark 25-26 Oct http://j.mp/9HvtyJ Washington DC USA 15-16 Nov http://j.mp/b8fJxA
HIA2010 3rd Asia Pacific HIA Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, 17-19 November 2010 http://bit.ly/ciV6GJ

Training

Three Day HIA Training, Liverpool UK 14-18 June 2010 http://j.mp/cD86FF
One day training course on HIA, Birmingham UK, 14 July 2010 http://bit.ly/cS3n3x
Three day HIA training course, 5th-7th October 2010, Gregynog, Waleshttp://j.mp/aMXJmk

Population Health & Primary Care

The European Journal of Public Health "Who supports health research in Europe?" http://bit.ly/9yBnKB
Collection of articles on climate change and health from the Lancet http://icio.us/zy4vgl
The social determinants of asthma http://bit.ly/deaJxH
Primary prevention from the epidemiology perspective: Three examples from the practice [BMC MRM] http://bit.ly/aJRzue
Health in the European Union: trends and analysis http://bit.ly/aNfPYC
Report: Content Analysis of Media Coverage of Health Inequalities in Canada 2008 http://bit.ly/a9tyqD
Videos: Urban Health Champions http://bit.ly/bcfZKC WHO's Urban Health Champions to celebrate World Health Day on April 7.
New Book: Health and Social Justice http://bit.ly/9RbUGh
Article: "Assessment of Health Impacts of Heatwaves in Brisbane: How to Best Define A Heatwave?" http://bit.ly/cYe8C5
Article: "Inequalities, inequities, environmental justice in waste management and health" by Marco Martuzzi http://bit.ly/awNYdY
Malaria's key survival protein identified, offering drug hope http://retwt.me/1LRRE
What impact will the swine flu and the pandemic response have on public trust? [Inside Story] http://j.mp/aDPhTO
The Lancet retracts autism paper 12 years on http://link.reuters.com/kuf37h
Financing of health systems to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals in low-income countries http://bit.ly/9FiTgX
Health Disparities Calculator released by US National Cancer Institute http://bit.ly/9vcuW0
Gates Foundation to double spending on vaccines http://bit.ly/cF6hUI
The impact of racism upon the health and wellbeing of young Australians 2009 http://bit.ly/a6FgQb
The trend in mental health-related mortality rates in Australia 1916-2004: ... http://bit.ly/5S0pzA
New Equity and Health Blog http://bit.ly/4LZ36q
Something different: Feral pig hunting - A risk factor for human brucellosis in north-west NSW? http://bit.ly/97gz0f

Other Items of Interest

UN Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS) 2010: Rethinking Poverty http://bit.ly/9bPkjI
UK National Equality Panel report: An Anatomy of Economic Inequaltiy in th UK http://bit.ly/a2j0jK
10 Out of 10 Deadly Health Stories: Successful programs from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services [where deadly = good] http://bit.ly/bbHxcr
Social Justice Report 2009 [Australian Human Rights Commission] http://bit.ly/9RW45H Indigenous language, country and identity.
Geoengineering the climate: science, governance and uncertainty [The Royal Society] http://bit.ly/bW6K02
Miliband's war on climate change denialism (and the media's role in it) http://bit.ly/ag6vOi
Tritium Leak At Vermont USA Nuclear Plant Grows http://bit.ly/cP3KSC
Western Australia to set up country's first mental health commission [ABC News] http://bit.ly/biRC21
Bowles on income inequality http://bit.ly/b56055
The Australian Government wants to implement the most drastic change to social security ever. And nobody knows about it. http://bit.ly/bvdEqD
Equality Speak: Challenges for a fair society http://j.mp/9FtLa3 The introduction is free to download, but you have to pay for the rest of the book.
We have a floor, now we need a ceiling: Reducing Canada’s income inequalities (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) http://bit.ly/dAK5JO
Transport supports are 'key' to fighting social exclusion, allowing the vulnerable access to services.The Irish Times http://bit.ly/9YQQZe
London 2030: Predictions (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/bgPkDb
Documentary: Petropolis - Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands (trailer) http://j.mp/bIMyYP
Good points on how to make your presentations worthwhile http://bit.ly/aZlHyO
Tales of Water in Africa: Innovation vs the Boring Stuff http://bit.ly/aj6hpY
Discussion of SLAPP: "Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation" http://bit.ly/cEnS2Y
Newly launched Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association (Australia) http://www.natsihwa.org.au

Older Links That are New to Us

New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment http://www.nzaia.org.nz/
Inukshuk HIA Consultancy http://bit.ly/bomZUo
Information from the World Bank Group on urban health http://icio.us/xpjhun
The Black Report 1980 - Original Text http://bit.ly/aNApaT

Amusing

Who to believe on Climate Gate? [Cartoon] http://bit.ly/9duWLw
‘The Spirit Level’ as explained by puppets in 3 minutes [video] http://j.mp/apUiqB
Biodiversity explained in images by Christoph Niemann http://bit.ly/atxu98
It turns out we all think we're above average. Meet the Lake Wobegon Effect: http://bit.ly/dh2fnJ

7 February 2010

IAIA Symposia on Climate Change and Impact Assessment in Denmark and the USA

The International Association for Impact Assessment has organised an symposium double-header!

A symposium on Climate Change & Impact Assessment will be held in Aalborg, Denmark from 25-26 October 2010:

http://j.mp/9HvtyJ [Flyer PDF]

A follow-up symposium on the same topic is being held in Washington DC, USA from 15-16 November 2010:

http://j.mp/b8fJxA [Flyer PDF]

5 February 2010

Health Impact Assessment Jobs

There's been a few HIA-related jobs advertised in recent weeks. Here are links to them, in case people are interested:

[Perth, Australia] Senior Consultant - Health & Social Impact Assessment http://bit.ly/cStOOk
[California, USA] Project Manager of California Cap and Trade HIA: http://bit.ly/du2jvq
[West Bank/Gaza] Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor for Chemonics/USAID project position advertised on HIA group on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/9xZelp

1 February 2010

New HIA Gateway Resources

Below are listed all the resources added to the HIA Gateway over the last month.

The HIA Bibliography is updated every 3 months (last update 21/1/2010).

The next update is due on: 21st April 2010.

Did you know there's a public calendar for HIA events?

There's a public calendar that lists HIA and HIA-related events. You can access it at:

http://bit.ly/9chUdw

If you'd like to add the calendar to your own electronic calendar the details are:

ICal
http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/a6rft24rbgtnihat6aumqk6578%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

XML
http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/a6rft24rbgtnihat6aumqk6578%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic

HIA2010 3rd Asia Pacific HIA Conference

The HIA2010 3rd Asia Pacific HIA Conference will be in Dunedin, New Zealand from 17-19 November 2010. I'll post more details as they become available.