Generic Health Impact Assessment (HIA) guidelines – Comparative study

Abstract

Context: Internationally, Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is increasingly seen as an essential element of the Public Health toolbox. In several countries, an HIA „culture“ emerges which includes, e.g., gateways to collections of completed HIAs, and HIA guidelines. This poster presents existing HIA guidelines and analyzes them in a comparative way. Methods and Materials: Searches in databases and the Internet were conducted to identify existing, publicly accessible English- or German-language HIA guideline documents of generic nature. Guidelines dedicated primarily to specific topic areas, e.g. mining/extractive industries, were not included in this study. The guidelines were subjected to a structured comparison using a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria. Results: The search so far identified 20 different HIA guideline documents meeting the criteria. Of these, 17 stem from 8 different countries, i.e. Australia (3), Canada (1), England (5), Ireland (2), New Zealand (1), Scotland (1), Sweden (2), USA (1), and Wales (1). In addition, there are guidelines issued by WHO and by two EC-funded projects (one of which provided the only guideline document in German that was identified so far). In most cases, the guidelines focus on procedure, e.g. „ten-step“ approaches incl. screening, scoping etc., on stakeholder participation, presentation of results, and communication. A detailed description of how to predict and assess impacts prospectively is given infrequently. Recent developments in quantitative HIA methodology are beyond the scope of most guidelines. Conclusions: There is a wealth of existing HIA guidelines in English. Their coverage of procedural issues is distinctly better developed than that of detailed methodology of (quantitative) prediction and assessment. – Although no studies on the role of guideline documents for HIA practice are known, it can be mused that the significance is substantial, both for introducing HIA on a larger scale and for assuring quality.