New Centre for Health Impact Assessment is launched!

The Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), based in the UK, has set up a new Centre for Health Impact Assessment (CHIA) to take forward its work on environmental and occupational health and wellbeing.

The vision of CHIA is to be an international Centre of Excellence for:
1. HIA theory and practice
2. Evidence-based analysis of the impacts of policies and programmes on health
3. Understanding the wider determinants of health and wellbeing
4. Healthy urban planning and development
5. Tackling environmental and health inequalities

For more information on the work of the Centre and opportunities for collaborative working please contact:

Dr Salim Vohra MBChB MSc PhD
Director
Centre for Health Impact Assessment
Institute of Occupational Medicine
Research House Business Centre
Fraser Road
Perivale
Middlesex
UB6 7AQ

Mob: +44 (0)7 980 728 814
Tel: +44 (0) 208 537 3491/2
Fax: +44 (0) 208 537 3493
Email: salim.vohra@iom-world.org
Web: www.iom-world.org

HIA changes in Switzerland

On the 4th July 2007, an agreement was signed between the Department of Economy and Health of the Republic & Canton of Geneva (DES) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

This agreement stipulates that the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) unit of the Directorate of Public Health (DES) is assigned for 3 years to UNIGE, with the possibility of a final transfer at the end of this period. In addition to its main mission (Assistance to the Geneva government in carrying out whichever HIA that it has decided to undertake according to the Health Law), the HIA unit is in charge, among other things, of the development of research and training on HIA, contributing in this manner to turn UNIGE into a Competence Centre in the area of Environmental Health.

The unit is under the hierarchical responsibility of the Director of the new Institute of Environmental Sciences (ISE). The assignment will become effective on 1st September 2007, at the same time ISE becomes operational.

The key HIA contacts are Jean Simos and Nicola Cantoreggi.

They can both be reached at: ueis@unige.ch or nicola.cantoreggi@unige.ch

Information courtesy of a personal email from Jean and Nicola.

An Important Day for Thailand and HIA

As many of you will be aware, Thailand's first referendum on the draft permanent Thai constitution is being held today, Sunday 19 August 2007. What some fo you may not be aware of however, is that the draft constitution has far-reaching implications for HIA's use in Thailand.

Decharut Sukkumnoed, Director of the Thai Healthy Public Policy Foundation, has provided this translation of the relevant sections of the constitution:

Section 67(2)
"Any projects and activities, which may cause serious impacts on the environment, natural resources, and health, cannot be done without conducting an impact assessment on environment quality and health of population in the local community and organizing a public hearing process for affected people and stakeholders. Moreover, these projects and activities cannot be started without the comments and opinions from independent organizations, which are comprised of environmental and health NGOs, and the representatives from higher education institutes which provide education on environment, natural resources, and health."

Section 67(3)
"The rights of local people to sue against any governmental organizations in order to make them follow the privious principle [i.e. section 67(2)] will be protected by this constitution."

The constitution's provisions for HIA's use follows the Thai National Health Act B.E. 2550 (2007) that was proclaimed on the 9th of March, which allows Thai people the right to demand a HIA be conducted and to participate in the HIA process (more information in this post).

I'm sure we'll all follow developments in Thailand today with considerable interest.

Asia Pacific HIA Email List: Discussion about HIAs of oil and gas projects

James Edwin recently posted a message to the Asia Pacific HIA Email List:

I need some assistance with health impact assessment methodologies. I would like an identification of existing guidelines, models and/or practices in the area of health impact assessment specific to the oil and gas industry. I would appreciate a list of models, a review of the literature, case studies, practical applications, references, annotated bibliography, etc

This led to a number of very helpful responses, which I've included in the comments for this post. If you are aware of any other materials please include them in a comment.

HIA2007 South East Asia and Oceania HIA Conference Update 2: Draft Program

Draft Program

The HIA2007 conference is being held in Sydney from 7-9 November. A draft conference program has been released [PDF ]. Please note that this program is provisional and may be subject to change.

The conference promises to be a busy event with:

• 10 plenary addresses,
• 48 oral presentations,
• 3 pre-conference training workshops,
• 2 in-conference workshops,
• 3 practitoner meetings/forums,
• 18 posters, and
• a panel discussion.

Conference Registration

Please download a registration flyer [PDF] for the conference to circulate to your colleagues and contacts. Online registration has opened and can be accessed at http://www.hia2007.com/registration.htm

Numbers for some events, such as the pre-conference workshops, are limited so register soon to avoid disappointment.

HIA Job: Research Associate Position at Cardiff University

The Welsh Health Impact Assessment Support Unit is advertising a position for a research associate for a project looking at “Involving the Public in Health Impact Assessment: An evaluation of current practice”. Details available here.

Wacky HIAs: HIAs of free newspapers and public spitting

I'd love to someone to do a HIA on free newspapers.

In London, UK we now have at least four newspapers everyday that are given away at tube stations, railway stations and major bus stops. We have the Metro, the London Paper, London Lite and the City AM.

From a sustainability perspective this is unsupportable as all that paper is junked mostly in regular bins and not recycled. Worse from a public health and environmental perspective the is a huge amount of litter and hazard created by people throwing these papers in streets and inside stations.

And yet, free newspapers through their provision of news, ideas, information, entertainment and gossip do generate some form of social capital, social inclusion and civic engagement.

The question therefore is how to keep the positives and reduce the negatives?

I'd also love someone to do a HIA on public spitting. Everyday as I commute into central London I see spit and people spitting. On the streets, inside tube stations, on the platforms and on buses.

Okay, so public spitting in strict public health terms probably isn't so bad in a country like the UK, where infectious disease levels are low and yet there are social, civic and cultural effects from this. Spitting in public shows a disregard both for public spaces and for the people who use them. Or maybe I'm just getting old and taking things too seriously.

What do you think of my ideas? What novel and wacky HIAs would you like to carry out, or have carried out, if you had the chance?

UK ePetition on HIA

The United Kingdom Office of the Prime Minister has an online petition proposing that:

... the Prime Minister to initiate legislation that will make a health impact assessment (HIA) an explicit requirement for all proposals to augment UK roads infrastructure"

Edit: Comments on the petition from its initiator after the jump.

This response is by John Butler

I was indeed the one who posted the HIA petition yesterday. In North Wales (Gogledd Cymru - hence the affectionate "gogs"), where I live, officials at Transport Wales are planning a massive "Improvement", to 7-11 lane motorway standards of the modest A494/A55 dual carriage way highway that runs "across the top of Wales". If ever built, with parallel service roads, it would be up to 13 lanes wide and one of the widest roads in Britain!

Officials at Transport Wales/Welsh Assembly Government are saying that our economy will collapse if the road is not built and they are designing it to carry double the current number of vehicles to 130,000 cars and trucks each day! The fact that it passses through some of the most beautiful parts of The Principality, considered up to now to be a tranquil, rural gem seems to have escaped them.

Thousands of North Wales folk are saying that they don't want or need this massive, polluting construction - and have been building a case to oppose it for the past 18 months. You can read about some aspects (including a specially composed "anthem" now viewable on YouTube!) at our website.

The official documents produced by the proposers have never made any attempt to properly provide for an appraisal of Impacts on Human Health. Their justification for this is that since there is currently no statutory requirement for one there won't be one. Thats what prompted me to initiate the e-petition to our Prime Minister!

I have two small grandchildren. They are likely to attend schools very close to the proposed widened roads so, on their behalf, I decided to persue this startling omission by Transport Wales and also my local county authority who run the schools.

The need (absolute necessity!!) for a HIA for any scheme of this nature, was inspired by the Californian "Gauderman Survey" of early 2007. With encouragement from UK's emminent imunotoxicalogy clinician, Royal Commissioner Profesor Stephen Holgate, I arranged several meetings of concerned residents and local politicians with senior environmental officials at my Local County Hall (Flintshire County Council). It transpires that amongst the undoubted specialists they assembled to impress us, nobody has any clinical qualifications or competence - neither had they thought fit to confer with those who have.

I have now formally advised the Chief Executive of FCC that, if ever my grandchildren suffer future health problems as a result of their inaction now in not effecting an HIA, I will take legal against them. There is now a lot of behind-the-scenes buck-passing going on, especially as they are aware that I am preparing to get 3000 concerned parents to consider registering with me NOW for a "Class-Action" at some future date.

I believe transport Wales fears that if the project and all roadworks they have in the pipeline were to be subject to appraisal for Health Impacts using the criteria that recent research advocates, it would mark the end of ALL large scale road projects throughout Wales - and the UK......

Any help readers of the blog can render to those ordinary folk who oppose the injustice of this and who have natural concerns for those most vulnerable in Wales (UK) would be appreciated.

All North Wales Assembly Members and our local Parliamentary MP, Mark Tami MP have queried with incredulity the omission of a HIA and are now aware of the obfuscation that is taking place in the highest levels of our civil administration. This must never happen again!

I am urging those Assembly Members who have previously expressed support to immediately initiate a Bill in the Assembly that would make it a prerequisite for all future Welsh highway works of this type. The e-petition is simply another way to raise awareness of common concerns.

As a result of a concerted action by orinary folk to register their concerns, on 11 September 2007, there will be a Public Inquiry into all aspects of the current proposals. It is likely to be a landmark event in future considerations for HIAs. Can you help in any way?

Many thanks for your interest. Please recruit as much interest and additions to the petition as possible. Dont forget to check out the website. If you want to hear the campaign song it's on Youtube.

John Butler


NB: I can't necessarily vouch for the petition or its appropriateness within the UK regulatory or legislative context - Ben

HIA2007 South East Asia and Oceania HIA Conference Update

Abstracts Received
We have received a strong response to the call for abstracts, with submissions received from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, India, Canada, Nepal and the United Kingdom. Abstracts will be reviewed by the scientific committee in coming weeks and the program will be posted online soon

Online Registration Now Open!
Online registration has opened and can be accessed at http://www.hia2007.com/registration.htm

Early bird registration closes 24 September.

Conference Opening
The conference will be opened by The Hon. Verity Firth, a Minister in the New South Wales Government. Her appointments include:

• Minister for Science and Medical Research
• Minister for Women
• Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water (Environment)
• Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer)

The Minister is also a Councillor for the City of Sydney.

AusAID Funding
We have been successful in securing funding under AusAID's International Seminar Support Scheme for a group of delegates from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to attend the conference. We hope this will further strengthen the conference's regional outlook.

For more on the conference got to www.hia2007.com

HIA Community Wiki gets a facelift!

The HIA Community Wiki has just had a redesign. There's been a lot of little tidying up but the four main changes are:

• The International HIA Blog gets pride of place on the front page through a swish new free widget from Springwidget.
• There's a new free Flickr photo badge that refreshes every time you visit the site.
• Check out the HIAwiki's visitor and hit rate through the 'Visitors to the site' page on he main menu bar at the top.
• There also a new calendar list on the Conferences/events page.
  

HIA eNews Issue 18 Avaiable

Issue 18 of the NSW Health Impact Assessment Project eNews is now available. This issue looks at:

• Ways Forward for HIA in Local Government: Considering health and wellbeing at the local level
• What’s the Future of the HIA Gateway?
• New Thai National Health Act: Participatory HIA enshrined in law
• Planning and Health: Findings from the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Download [PDF 520Kb]

New HIA Listserv: Asia Pacific Health Impact Assessment Email List

A meeting of HIA practitioners from across the Asia Pacific region was held during the recent International Association for Impact Assessment conference in Seoul. It was decided during the meeting that there was a need for an email discussion list to facilitate information exchange across the region.

I have established an Asia Pacific HIA Email List. The list currently has over 120 subscribers from 18 countries. If you would like to join the list please send an email to majordomo@explode.unsw.edu.au with "subscribe hia-seao" as the body of the email (further details below).

Members
This email list is intended for practitioners and those with an interest in health impact assessment from across the Asia Pacific region.

Purpose
To provide an mechanisms for information exchange and networking across the Asia Pacific region.

To subscribe
Send an email to majordomo@explode.unsw.edu.au with "subscribe hia-seao"as the body of the email.

To unsubscribe
Send an email to majordomo@explode.unsw.edu.au with "unsubscribe hia-seao"as the body of the email.

To send an email to the list
Send your email to hia-seao@explode.unsw.edu.au
Attachments up to 1 Mb are permitted, though not encouraged. Links to files hosted on the web are preferred.

Deadline Extended: Abstracts for HIA2007 South East Asia and Oceania Health Impact Assessment Conference

The deadline for submission of abstracts for the HIA2007 South East Asia and Oceania Health Impact Assessment Conference has been extended until Monday 2 July 2007. Abstracts can be submitted online at www.hia2007.com and are invited under the following themes:

• Health Impact Assessment in Practice
• Health, Community Wellbeing and Sustainability
• Creating Environments for Health
• Liveable Urban Communities
• Working with Other Sectors

The conference is being held in Sydney, Australia from 7-9 November 2007. Further information is available from http://www.hia2007.com

South East Asian Regional Training Course on HIA

By Suphakij Nuntavorakarn and Nuntana Sabrum, Thai Healthy Public Policy Foundation

The Thai Health Systems Research Institute recently held an “HIA Interactive Training Course: A Learning Tool for Healthy Community and Society” in Khon Kaen province of Thailand.

The five-day training course was carried out during 15th to 19th October 2006 through a diversity of processes such as lectures, group work, open discussion and field visits in order to strengthen essential HIA skills and knowledge and to create framework for collaborative research and networking within Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Twelve regional and nineteen local health experts and practitioners attended the event. The regional participants were from Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Australia. Suggestions and ideas shared during the training have led to further HIA development in the region including the development of HIA training manual for developing countries, expert exchange and technical visits. One of the concrete outcomes is that more HIA work has been produced by the new faces from Mekong River Basin and will be presented in the upcoming international events such as the IAIA07 conference in South Korea and HIA2007 conference in Australia.

The training and subsequent activities are part of the “HIA Development for Developing Countries Project” supported by Thai-Health Global Linkage Initiative Program (T-GLIP), which is funded through the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. The need for the project arose from an increasing awareness of trans-boundary health impacts and the need to prevent and manage them through regional collaboration.

Copies of the training manual developed by the Healthy Public Policy Foundation are now available. Forfm more information contact Wipawa Chuenchit.

Planning and Health: Findings from the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

by Andrew Buroni, RPS Group

The UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) is an independent body established to advise the Queen, the Government, Parliament and the public on environmental issues.

The Commission's advice is mainly in the form of reports, of which their most recent is on the Urban Environment. In this report the RCEP acknowledges current shortcomings in the planning system and recommends that the UK government and devolved administrations develop a statutory framework for including Health Impact Assessments in the planning process.

This article provides a summary of the RCEP report, detailing the recommendations to Government and future HIA planning requirements.

Planning and Health
The planning system offers an important opportunity for a more coherent effort to develop cities and improve the health and wellbeing of urban inhabitants.
Evidence suggests that planning can not only be applied to tackle and offset many of the adverse health effects of an urban environment, but can also be applied to address and prevent many of today’s significant physical, mental and social health issues.

The mode of health effect is complex and represents a mixture of physical influences such as the removal of environmental risks, social influences brought about through improved connectivity and support through to behavioral responses from improved perceptions of the environment.

Potential outcomes from more health conscientious planning therefore reflect real opportunities to contribute in reducing cardiovascular and respiratory ailments, obesity, diabetes, road traffic accidents, antisocial behavior and crime and foster improved self-rated health, wellbeing and ultimately healthier communities.
The ethical and financial benefits of preventative health measures over treatment are key to Government policy represented through the White Paper, ‘Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation’ and supported by the Department of Health, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence and regional Health Authorities.

However, to date, consideration of health and wellbeing has had little influence in urban design and planning and the present planning system is still unable to adequately deal with complex public health issues.

Planning applications for large-scale developments often require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). These assessments can include data on environmental problems like air pollution that can cause health effects, but while they may predict environmental emissions from future developments to compare with relevant standards, they do not always look at health impacts in terms of a population’s vulnerability and exposure to health risks.

EIAs and planning applications therefore tend to not consider health and wellbeing issues in a systematic manner do not recognise the complex interrelations between social and environmental factors and rarely identify measures to enhance health benefits.

Recognition of the planning systems failure to adequately address health is not new. The RCEP’s previous report on Environmental Planning, highlighted the general issues and recommended the Government integrate processes such as Health Impact Assessment (HIA) within EIA back in 2002.

In its response, the government recognised the benefits of HIA, but stated that it was “not persuaded that detailed Health Impact Assessments, which require different expertise and methodologies, should form an integral part of Environmental Impact Assessment at individual project level”.

However, during the most recent RCEP study, the Department of Health supported the inclusion of HIA within the EIA process as the best means of considering health issues in the planning process, and the RCEP strongly concur.
The RCEP therefore reinforces its recommendation that Health Impact Assessments be incorporated explicitly in Sustainability Appraisals, Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments.

In order to implement this, the RCEP further recommend that the UK government and devolved administrations develop a statutory framework for including Health Impact Assessments in the planning process.

Future HIA Requirement in the Planning Process
The RCEP’s study reinforces the consensus view of UK health organisations and Local Government in that a formal requirement to assess the potential health effects of development is long overdue.

In the absence of leadership from Government and a lack of a formal requirement to conduct HIA, Local and Regional Government are developing their own initiatives to ensure that health is addressed in the planning process.

• In London, the Greater London Authority Act (1999) places a duty on the Greater London Authority (GLA) to promote the health of Londoners and to take into account the effect of its policies on health and inequality. Supporting the GLA Act, the Mayor appointed the London Health Commission to drive health improvement in priority areas across London, to investigate specific health issues if it wishes and to drive the practice of HIA across London. Complementing the GLA Act, the Mayor of London has recently released Best Practice Guidance setting out how health inequalities can be tackled through more informed planning, policies and proposals subject to HIA.
  The Welsh Assembly have recently published a Draft Interim Planning Policy Statement on Planning, Health and Well-being, forming the first planning requirement for HIA in the UK.
• The Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency are developing guidance to advise health authorities on how to integrate health into Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
• Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities are becoming more involved in the planning process and specifically requesting HIA.
• Developers are voluntarily commissioning HIA to identify potential health risks, to facilitate health improvements and avoid often-costly remediation.

In light of the growing demand and clear benefits of HIA, the RCEP recommendation is likely to be the precursor for the development of the first UK statutory requirement to conduct HIA.

Any further delay by Government may be perceived as a deliberate attempt to avoid tackling the often-emotive topic of health.

New Thai National Health Act: Participatory HIA Enshrined in Law

The Thai National Health Act B.E. 2550 (2007) was recently approved and entered into force on 19th of March. The ambitious legislation includes several sections on HIA, which cover the rights of Thai people to demand a HIA be conducted and to participate in HIA process, as well requiring the development of guidelines and procedures for HIA to be developed by the newly established National Health Committee.

According to the Act, HIA is designed to be a “social learning process”, which has been developed so that all stakeholders in society can be involved in examining the health impacts of policies, projects or activities that have already affected or may affect groups of people. This social learning process involves identifying and supporting the most appropriate alternative in public decision-making processes with the goal of protecting and promoting the health of all people in Thai society.
For more information on the Act email suphakijn@yahoo.com

This post was written by Suphakij Nuntavorakarn from the Thai Healthy Public Policy Foundation and originally appeared in the International Association for Impact Assessment's HIA Quarterly.