Health Lens Analysis: A Strategy to Engage Community in Environmental Health Research in Action.

Pilar Botana Martinez,Noelle Dimitri,Doug Brugge,Wig Zamore,Ellin Reisner,Ben Echevarria,Shir Lerman Ginzburg,Sharon Ron,Linda S. Sprague Martinez

doi:10.3390/su13041748

Abstract

Health Lens Analysis is a tool to facilitate collaboration among diverse community stakeholders. We employed HLA as part of a community based participatory research (CBPR) and action study to mitigate the negative health effects of TRAP and ultrafine particles (UFPs) in Somerville, MA. HLA is a Health in All Policies tool with previously limited implementation in a North American context. As part of the HLA, community and academic partners engaged residents from across near-highway neighborhoods in a series of activities designed to identify health concerns and generate recommendations for policies and projects to improve health over an 18-month planning period. Noise barriers, which may reduce TRAP exposure among residents in addition to reducing traffic noise, were seen as an acceptable solution by community stakeholders. We found HLA to be an effective means to engage stakeholders from across sectors and diverse community residents in critical discourse about the health impacts of near-roadway exposures. The iterative process allowed the project team to fully explore the arguments for noise barriers and preferred health interventions, while building a stakeholder base interested in the mitigation of TRAP, thus, creating a shared language and understanding of the issue.

Highlights

An increasing focus on the importance of the social determinants of health has led to interest in public health strategies designed to foster a broad understanding of individual health and the ways in which it is influenced by environmental context
We present an illustrative description of the process of implementing an Health Lens Analysis (HLA) focused on TransportationRelated Air Pollution (TRAP), in an effort to build the HLA literature as well as local public health planning efforts that seek to infuse a health lens on local decision-making
A high concentration level of ultrafine particles (UFPs) in the Somerville neighborhoods bordering I-93 was established in the literature [21,23,27], we found a lack of site-specific data on traffic-related noise pollution

Summary

Introduction

An increasing focus on the importance of the social determinants of health has led to interest in public health strategies designed to foster a broad understanding of individual health and the ways in which it is influenced by environmental context. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1748 increasingly widespread and endorsed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the American Public Health Association (APHA), in addition to the WHO It has been adopted in settings ranging from a statewide initiative in California to the Finnish health policy strategy [3,4,5,6]. Planning Council (MAPC) used HLA to examine how an urban agriculture policy could be implemented in ways that promote health and promote equitable engagement in urban agriculture [11] This led to the publication of an accessible urban agriculture resource guide [12] and a better understanding of urban agriculture amongst local government officials and community leaders. HLA outcomes to date and lessons learned are presented

Background

The Somerville Partnership

Materials and Methods

Community

Gathering Evidence

Generating Recommendations

Navigating

Evaluating

Results

Role of Community Engagement in Defining HLA Scope

Participants

Gathered Evidence of the Impact of I-93 on Resident Health and Well-Being