Policy Advocacy Actions at the Organization, State and National Levels: Using Health Impact Assessments to Inform Policy Decisions at all Levels

Background: Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are more frequently being used to inject health considerations into the decision making process at all levels organizations, state and national. This is especially important in non-health sector policy making decisions concerning for example transportation, housing, education, criminal justice system and the built environment. Several organizations are supporting increasing the use of HIA such as the World Health Organization, multilateral development banks, the National Research Council, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the California Endowment and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Description: Health Impact Assessments are a structured process that uses scientific data, professional expertise and community stakeholder input to identify and evaluate public health consequences of policies, programs or projects. The steps in the HIA process result in recommendations for action to mitigate potential negative effects and increase the potential positive effects of a policy on the health of the stakeholder community. Community engagement in all steps of the HIA process are essential and also the values of social justice, democracy and transparency.

Lessons Learned and Recommendations: An example of how an HIA project informed a local policy involving the establishment of a tax increment financing district will be presented.