A health impact assessment of an environmental management plan: the impacts on physical activity and social cohesion

Abstract

The HIA provided a useful framework for establishing a collaborative relationship between the local government and health sector. It improved the local government's understanding of the inter-relationship between the environment and physical activity and social cohesion and enabled health authorities to have an impact on a capital works program to maximise health gain.

Integration of health into urban spatial planning through impact assessment: Identifying governance and policy barriers and facilitators

“…Partnership working is also hindered by the different structures of the organisations, and by differing day to day and strategic priorities (Neville et al, 2005). A number of authors cite the limited time and human resources that are available to dedicate to developing effective partnerships (Mathias and Harris-Roxas, 2009;NHS London, 2009;Noble and Bronson, 2006).…”

“…Finally, HIA itself is highlighted as a useful process for bringing together partners, developing greater understanding, facilitating a change in priorities in planning strategies and highlighting the role that health considerations have in the appraisal process (Neville et al, 2005;Stevenson et al, 2005). HIA should be promoted as a nonthreatening and constructive process (Bendel and Owen-Smith, 2005).…”

“…Building the capacity of actors and stakeholders is another way to improve health consideration through appraisals (Ahmad et al, 2008;Bhatia and Wernham, 2008;Blau and Mahoney, 2005;Bond et al, 2001;Caussy et al, 2003;Corburn and Bhatia, 2007; 21 Neville et al, 2005;NHS London, 2009;PAS, 2008a;Utzinger et al, 2005;YHEC, 2006). In practice, it includes for instance the creation of an HIA post at a strategic level, developing on-going institutional skills (not only individual skills), consultation mechanisms, skills to conduct assessment, providing support for developers, and developing quantitative, qualitative and advocacy skills.…”

“…Organisational resources can be increased through knowledge sharing and partnership working , as the previous section demonstrated (Ahmad et al, 2008;Bendel and Owen-Smith, 2005;Davenport et al, 2006;Elliott and Francis, 2005;Fischer et al, 2010;GCPH, 2007;Hay and Kitcher, 2004;NHS London, 2009;PAS, 2008b;Plant et al, 2007;YHEC, 2006). Practical measures suggested include improving the links between planning and corporate policy at the level of the organisation (GCPH, 2007), setting up cross-departmental or multidisciplinary team working to facilitate policy integration (Bond et al, 2001;Hay and Kitcher, 2004;PAS, 2008b), regular meetings between health and planning authorities (NHS London, 2009;Plant et al, 2007), building programme-management skills (Neville et al 2005), building the capacity to engage with stakeholders and work inter-sectorally (e.g. Mahoney, 2005, France, 2004;Greig et al 2004, Neville et al 2005PAS, 2008a), and involving decision-makers in knowledge production, in assessment process or involving outside experts or outsourcing (Davenport, 2006;Elliott and Francis, 2005).…”

“…It also points to the need for more evaluation of the other techniques from the health viewpoint. (Ahmad et al, 2008;Bendel and Owen-Smith, 2005;BMI, 1998;Douglas et al, 2007;Elliott and Francis, 2005;France, 2004;GCPH, 2007;Greig et al, 2004;Hay and Kitcher, 2004;Kemm et al, 2004;Lester and Temple, 2006;Mindell et al, 2004;PAS, 2008b;NHS London, 2008Wismar et al, 2007;YHEC, 2006) SA/SEA (Burns and Bond, 2008;Fischer et al, 2010) EIA (Sutcliffe,1995) IIA (Plant et al, 2007) EqIA (PAS,2008a) SIA (Wismar et al, 2007) NL HIA (Bekker et al, 2005;Kemm et al, 2004) SA/SEA (Fischer et al, 2010) Germany SEA (Fischer et al, 2010) HIA (Wismar et al , 2007) Denmark SEA (Kørnøv, 2009) Finland IA (Viinikainen and Kaehoe, 2007) Hungary HIA (Kosa et al, 2007) Italy HIA (Wismar et al, 2007) Sweden HIA (Wismar et al, 2007) USA HIA (Dannenberg et al, 2008;Farhang et al, 2008) IA (Bhatia and Wernham, 2008;Corburn and Bathia, 2007) EIA (Steinemann, 2000) Australia HIA (Blau and Mahoney, 2005;Gow and Dubois, 2007;Neville et al, 2005) IA (Kjellstrom et al, 2003) EIA 8 New Zealand HIA (Mathias and Harris-Roxas, 2009...…”