ES Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a set of techniques that is used to examine the potential health effects of a proposed policy, program, or project which has globally generated significant interest over the past decade. It is a strong strategy for collaborating with other sectors to address the environmental determinants of health, and to achieve the most effective objectives for sustainable development goals. However, HIA could help bring attention to the broad determinants of health and suggest ways to promote healthy public policy in different sectors. Although this component is promising, its ultimate value can be compromised by premature and unrealistic expectations. The need for HIA in Nigeria seems to be increasing because it has been found that modifiable determinants of health in populations are rooted primarily in characteristics of the physical and social environments, thus requiring intersectoral analyses of possible health promoting policies and projects. The benefits of HIA as well as its weaknesses must be well communicated to other public health practitioners, policymakers, and ultimately the public. It can provide helpful information to policymakers and stakeholders about potential health impacts, but it cannot independently create healthy public policy. This review highlights the key elements of these advances and characterizes the way in which they contribute to improvement of standards and methodologies of HIA and compares different approaches to HIA. The review emphasizes that a better understanding of these advances is needed before environmental scholars and practitioners can begin to gather relevant information, analyze them within credible research designs and generate reliable evidence about the effectiveness of the myriad proposed solutions to the global health, environmental and social problems.Lessons learned from the related field of environmental impact assessment and from experience with HIA can help improve the likelihood that HIA can fulfill its long-term goals of advancing and promoting sustainable development.