Integrating Health in Impact Assessment: opportunities for Health Promotion post 2015

IAIA members together with WHO Europe and the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) have conducted a research about “Health Inclusion in Impact Assessment”. The preliminary findings were presented in Calgary at IAIA2013 to other Impact Assessment practitioners. This joint discussion further refined the papers, the overall conclusions, and recommendations on the way forward. The final publication will be available on all Institutions websites in the coming months. In the mean time we present a poster at the 8th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health, starting next week in Copenhagen. The poster focuses on the role that Impact Assessment can play in the post 2015 agenda. This is a crucial time when new global sustainable goals are under scrutiny and discussion. The Final Report of the Global Thematic Consultation on Health states that “Health is central to sustainable development: health is a beneficiary of development, a contributor to development, and a key indicator of what people-centred, rights-based, inclusive, and equitable development seeks to achieve.” In this new post 2015 development framework the contributions of other sectors to health and wellbeing are clearly articulated. Impact Assessment is the existing and widely accepted process which can be applied to all sectoral policies, programs, and projects in order to secure health, minimize health risks, and maximize health opportunities.

Pollution need to be considered an urgency as other health threats

“The World’s Worst Pollution Problems” Assessing Health Risks at Hazardous Waste Sites report has just been releases and reveals that close to 125 million people are at risk from toxic pollution across 49 low to middle-income countries. Also, the report, for the first time estimates the total global burden of disease attributed to toxic pollution from industrial sites in these countries. Blacksmith Institute found that the public health impact of industrial pollutants, measured in DALYs, is the same or higher than some of the most dangerous diseases worldwide. Below is a comparison of the DALYs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to the DALYs from industrial pollutants.

Industrial Pollutants	17.147.600
Tuberculosis	25.041.000
HIV/AIDS	28.933.000
Malaria	14.252.000

The substances included are lead, chromium, mercury, and asbestos. The Top Ten industrial sources are: lead-acid battery recycling, lead smelting, mining and ore processing, tanneries, industrial and municipal dump sites, industrial estates, artisanal gold mining, product and chemical manufacturing, and the dye industry.

The lancet editorial rightly call the international health community to become more active in tackling and addressing hazardous substance pollution to achieve healthy and sustainable development worldwide.

The Prosperity of Cities is closely linked to a notion of development which include equity and environmental sustainability

Development actors need to explore a more inclusive notion of prosperity and development, finds new UN-Habitat report The State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013: The Prosperity of Cities.

According to the report, there is a need for a shift in attention around the world in favour of a MORE ROBUST NOTION OF DEVELOPMENT – one that looks beyond the narrow domain of economic growth that has dominated ill-balanced policy agendas over the last decades, and includes other vital dimensions such as quality of life, adequate infrastructures, equity and environmental sustainability.

“In this Report, UN-Habitat advocates for a new type of city – the city of the 21st century – that is a „good‟, people centred city,” said Dr Joan Clos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat.

“The cities of the future should be ones that are capable of integrating the tangible and more intangible aspects of prosperity, in the process shedding off the inefficient, unsustainable forms and functionalities of the city of the previous century or so and becoming the engine rooms of growth and development.”

The CITY OF THE 21ST CENTURY:

·         Reduces disaster risks and vulnerabilities for the poor and build resilience to adverse forces of nature.

·         Creates harmony between the five dimensions of prosperity and enhances the prospects for a better future.

·         Stimulates local job creation, promotes social diversity, maintains a sustainable environment and recognizes the importance of public spaces.

·         Comes with a change of pace, profile and urban functions and provides the social, political and economic conditions of prosperity.

The UNISDR report "Making Cities Resilient 2012 -- My city is getting ready! A global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk" complements UN-HABITAT’s findings. Margareta Wahlström, Head, UNISDR, said that several elements used by UN-HABITAT to assess city prosperity, such as equity and good governance, also bolster disaster resilience. "The findings from our own studies on cities show that low socio-economic development need not necessarily limit all resilience-building activities, especially when the central government and multilateral agencies work together to ensure the right people come together to take action," said Wahlström said

Lancet on Sustainable Development

The latest issue of the Lancet is on sustainable development and is available for free http://t.co/mNf4IIvH