We have a (crude) iPhone app for the HIA Blog

We now have an iPhone app. It's a little crude and is based on our Facebook page, but all the blog content that you know and love is there. Please try it out! (Android version to follow soon)

Sunlight May Turn Jet Exhaust Into Toxic Particles

Airports can pose a far bigger threat to local air than previously recognized, thanks to the transformative power of sunlight.

In the first on-tarmac measurements of their kind, researchers have shown that oil droplets spewed by idling jet engines can turn into particles tiny enough to readily penetrate the lungs and brain.

Read more on Wired - click here.

HIA 6th Avenue East Duluth, MN

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on Duluth, Minnesota’s Complete Streets Resolution, Mobility in the Hillside Neighborhood and The Sixth Avenue East Schematic Redesign Study.

The redesign study of Sixth Avenue East in 2010, arose out of community concerns about the safety of the roadway and its perceived negative effects on the neighborhood. The Health Impact Assessment team conducted a HIA on the redesign study, current conditions in the Hillside for non-motorized transportation and its potential health impacts on the Hillside. The HIA Final Report includes both recommendations for the roadway and for changes in the neighborhood outside of the 66 foot right-of-way in the redesign study. The HIA recommendations serves as a guide for roadway reconstruction and the creation of a healthier, more livable neighborhood.


St. Louis County Minnesota

Click here for link.

HIA in Latvia

Interesting report on Strengthening the implementation of health impact assessment in Latvia from WHO Europe. Worth a read.

Webcast: Health Impact Assessment Thinking & Acting Locally & Globally

Internet webcast: 2:10 - 4:30 PM (US Eastern Daylight Savings Time) The live webcast originates from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Find out more about the program and the speakers (Dinah Bear, Ben Cave and Aaron Wernham) at the website.

Important article: Accounting for Nature's Benefits - The Dollar Value of Ecosystem Services

There's a great open-access article in Environmental Health Perspectives on quantifying the value of ecosystem services in improving human wellbeing:

Holzman D. Accounting for Nature's Benefits: The Dollar Value of Ecosystem Services. Environmental Health Perspective 120:a152-a157, 2012. doi:10.1289/ehp.120-a152

The issues are very relevant to HIA and as I noted in this editorial, ecosystem services are routinely ignored in HIAs (at our peril). Please read.

Health Impact Assessment: The state of the art

Several International Association for Impact Assessment Health Section members and I have written a paper in the latest issue of Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal on Health Impact Assessment: The state of the art. It's part of a special issue on the state of the art in impact assessment that was edited by Alan Bond and Jenny Pope. Most of the papers are excellent reading for anyone interested in impact assessment.

Harris-Roxas B, Viliani F, Bond A, Cave B, Divall M, Furu P, Harris P, Soeberg M, Wernham A, Winkler M.  Health Impact Assessment: The state of the art, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, eFirst.
doi:10.1080/14615517.2012.666035

The paper is available for free to IAIA members, just log into the IAIA website and follow the IAPA link. If you have difficulty accessing the paper please contact me.

Profile of Arthur Wendel, head of the US CDC's Healthy Design Initiative

There's a great profile and Q&A with Arthur Wendel, a leader in HIA in the US over at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation blog.