HIA forecast: cloudy with sunny spells later?

Thomson, H. (2008) HIA forecast: cloudy with sunny spells later? European Journal of Public Health, 18(5), pp. 436-438. (doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckn086)

Abstract

The last few years of the 20th century may be regarded as the coming of age for Health Impact Assessment (HIA). The WHO Gothenburg consensus paper published in 19991 outlined the concept of and a suggested approach for HIA. HIA was of great interest to the public health and policy making community not only because it appeared to provide a structured mechanism to promote healthy public policy, but also because it fitted with the moves towards concepts of joined-up policy. I searched Medline for articles with the term ‘health impact assessment’ in the abstract to get an indication of the level and nature of interest in HIA over the past decade. Between the years 1998 and 2002 Medline returned 24 hits, while in the second half of the decade (2002 to March 2008) there were 86 hits. This suggests that, within the health literature at least, there is a continued and even growing interest in HIA. From a scan of the abstracts from this, albeit rudimentary, search it emerges that much of the published literature on HIA is characterized by discussion around what HIA is, and what HIA might contribute. Less than half of the papers report the findings of an HIA and far fewer report the subsequent effects of the HIA. Reports of small-scale, local HIA exercises may not hold much interest for the wider academic community, however, the continued discussion around the nature and value of HIA suggests a lingering uncertainty and even unease over what HIA can offer.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Thomson, Dr Hilary
• Authors: Thomson, H.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
• Journal Name: European Journal of Public Health
• ISSN: 1101-1262