Enjeux de la pratique en évaluation d’impact sur la santé : observations sur l’expérimentation de cette démarche au Québec

Abstract

The Quebec Government Policy of Prevention in Health incited several regional Public health departments (PHD) to initiate health impact assessment (HIA) as a way to strengthen collaboration with municipal decision makers and improve their projects of urban planning projects. This article presents the main HIA implementation issues encountered in the last two years and the solutions applied or envisaged. The documentation of the issues is based on the observations of HIA experts drawn from working sessions with practitioners from different regional PHDs and from the activities of a community of practice. Five issues have been identified : appropriation of the HIA process and new skills, support and collaboration of municipal partners, intersectoral work, access to expertise and evidence as well as HIA funding. A common implementation framework offering different tools, a scientific support and a vibrant community of practice will help to develop skills of practitioners and capacities of their respective organizations. These solid foundations will increase the credibility and relevance of HIA for municipal partners. An in-depth evaluation will be carried out at the end of the experiment to examine the relevance, feasibility and acceptability of HIA and to better understand the conditions necessary for a successful integration of this practice in various contexts. It will make it possible to assess whether the services and instrumentation made available to practitioners are useful or how they can be improved.