Health Impact Assessment: A Practical Guide

This guide is designed to provide a practical approach to undertaking Health Impact Assessment (HIA). Based on the findings of the New South Wales HIA project, the aim is to encourage greater consideration of health and well-being through the use of HIA within project, programme, and policy development in New South Wales. HIA is both a health protection and health promotion tool. In HIA, health should be broadly defined to include assessments of both health hazards and health benefits of a proposal and the potential ways in which health and well-being can be both protected and promoted. Its intended audience is people working in both health and non-health sectors; communities and their representatives; and people developing health public policy.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
  
• Introduction
  

• PART One: Overview of Key Concepts
  

1. What is HIA?
   
2. Why undertake HIA?
   
3. What do we mean by 'health'?
   
4. How is health created?
   
5. What are health impacts?
   
6. HIA is prospective
   
7. Broad participation
   
8. Equity
   

• PART Two: The Steps in HIA
  

1. Screening
   
2. Scoping
   
3. Identification
   
4. Assessment
   
5. Decision-making and recommendations
   
6. Evaluation and follow-up
   

• Glossary of Terms
  
• References
  
• Appendices

For a print copy of the guide or more information, please contact s.m.green@unsw.edu.au