Can health impact assessment be conducted on the political platforms of presidential election candidates?

Abstract

Health impact assessment (HIA) is defined as a method by which a policy, program or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population in order to mitigate negative impacts and strengthen the positive ones. During the 2017 French presidential elections, health promotion actors decided to conduct an HIA on the political platforms of the five main candidates. The assessment of each political platform was conducted by 7 evaluators and reviewed by 35 health promotion experts. Then, a comparative analysis of the platforms was led on 3 specific topics. This HIA was conducted in accordance with the international standards of practice. Within all of the 5 political platforms, the proposals related to Environmental and energy policy, and to Agricultural policy were the ones with widely positive impacts on the determinants of health. Concerning all of the other policy proposals, their respective impacts and affected populations broadly change from one platform to another. Due to its political object, this HIA had to deal with methodological challenges such as platform instability, uncertainty over the genuine implementation of measures as well as the importance of the underlying platform values. Nonetheless, such an implementation of the HIA process on the political platforms of candidates running for an important position is interesting because it represents an opportunity to look at the platforms with fresh eyes and enriches the advocacy to take public health into account in the policy making processes and tries to operationalize the concept of health in all policies.