Abstract
The Minimum Elements and Practice Standards for Health Impact Assessment (MEPS) outline the minimum elements that need to be addressed for a study to be considered a health impact assessment (HIA), as well as best practices for how an HIA should be conducted. The document was originally created by a group of leading HIA practitioners in 2009. Since then, it has been updated twice to reflect the evolution of HIA as a practice and the expanded use of HIA as a tool to implement health in all policies. This commentary describes current efforts to revise the MEPS—the first update in six years.
Highlights
health impact assessments (HIA) is one important strategy to advance health in all policies (HiAP), defined by the World Health Organization as “an approach to public policies across sectors that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts in order to improve population health and health equity” (World Health Organization, 2014)
A working group of experienced HIA practitioners identified the need for practice standards during the September 2008 North American Conference on Health Impact Assessment and published a formal document in 2009 (North American HIA Practice Standards Working Group, 2009)
As the HIA field increasingly recognizes the value and opportunity of these assessments to support advocacy efforts, the MEPS play a critical role in ensuring that all HIAs use the best available evidence, examine a range of potential health impacts, and present all relevant findings, not just those that support a specific policy position
Summary
HIA is one important strategy to advance health in all policies (HiAP), defined by the World Health Organization as “an approach to public policies across sectors that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts in order to improve population health and health equity” (World Health Organization, 2014).The Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA) is an international association of individuals and organizations that develops high-quality resources to help HIA practitioners build capacity, supports member networking and peer mentoring opportunities, and communicates timely information on resources, training, and technical assistance opportunities. This MEPS update acknowledges the evolution of the practice to include rapid and adapted methods and streamlined products, while maintaining applicability to intermediate and comprehensive HIAs and longer reports that document the full process and findings from the assessments.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call