Workshop: Making progress in Health Impact Assessment: from theory to practice

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays, it is widely accepted that the causal pathway leading to an adverse health outcome does not depend on isolate risk factors but on the intricate relation of those elements with broader socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and political conditions. This comprehensive approach was already acknowledged in the preamble of the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) when referring to the concept of “health”. The so-called social view of health generated under this new framework place also a great emphasis in addressing health inequalities within a population. Impact assessment (IA) is a discipline involving specific methods and technical tools for analysing the consequences of a planned intervention previously to the implementation phase. Its purpose is to support the decision-making process. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a form of IA applied to a wide range of public or private projects that are likely to pose a significant impact on the environment. The EIA Directive (2011/92/EU) was amended in 2014 (2014/52/EU), including explicitly “population, and human health” in the list of topics to be considered in an EIA. However, the amended directive does not provide a specific definition for any of the two terms, nor guidance on how to assess the potential health effects related to a project, or the necessary qualifications of professionals tasked with the assessment of these effects. To this respect, public health professionals are not likely to be routine contributors to EIA. In this sense, under a business-as-usual coverage, environmental specialists are the professionals developing standards and methods to assess all topics in EIA, including for population and human health. This runs the risk that EIA practice will lose much of its potential for improving human health. The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) together with the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), and the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (WHO-ECEH) are working on a reference document to support public health authorities and other health stakeholders in addressing human health within EIA as required by the Directive 2014/52/EU. The aim of this workshop is to present that document and discuss with participants about the above-mentioned gaps, for ensuring a consistent coverage of population and human health within the EIA process. Elements to be discussed: -Description of major changes introduced by the amended EIA directive, and its impact on public health-Institutional/political support needed for the institutionalization of health assessment within EIA-Role of the Public Health sector, and description of what likely or significant effect on health should be considered within EIA-Competencies required for assessing population and human health in EIA.-Gaining strength from the ‘Family of health assessments’ approach” Key messages A comprehensive approach to population and human health should be incorporated in the EIA procedure. Raise awareness for involving public health sector in addressing population and human health in EIA.