"Environmental impact assessment" denotes the attempt to predict and assess the impact of development projects on the environment. A component dealing specifically with human health is often called an "environmental health impact assessment." It is widely held that such impact assessment offers unique opportunities for the protection and promotion of human health. The following components were ...

Study objective: To assess what methods are used in quantitative health impact assessment (HIA), and to identify areas for future research and development. Design: HIA reports were assessed for (1) methods used to quantify effects of policy on determinants of health (exposure impact assessment) and (2) methods used to quantify health outcomes resulting from changes in exposure to determinants (...

Healthy Public Policy is one of the key health promotion actions. Advancement of Healthy Public Policy requires that the health consequences of policy should be correctly foreseen and that the policy process should be influenced so that those health consequences are considered. Health Impact Assessment is an approach that could assist in meeting both requirements. Policies often produce health ...

This case study describes the process and results of a prospective health impact assessment that was conducted on a major hospital redevelopment in NSW. Undertaking the health impact assessment has raised awareness of the potential intended and unintended consequences of redevelopment in relation to health. It has also enhanced the capacity and commitment for health impact assessment within the...

BACKGROUND A summary utility index is useful for deriving quality-adjusted life years (QALY) for cost analyses or disability weights for burden of disease studies. However, many quality of life instruments provide descriptive profiles rather than a single utility index. Transforming quality of life instruments to a utility index could extend the use of quality of life instruments to costs analy...

The development of health impact assessment (HIA) in Thailand is taking place in difficult circumstances but with high hopes. For many years, the government has taken a clear direction to change Thai economy and society into a newly industrialized country. Many policies designed to fulfil this strategy, however — including investment in infrastructure and industrial development — have caused ne...

Health impact assessment (HIA) is often used to determine ex ante the health impact of an environmental policy or an environmental intervention. Underpinning any HIA is the framing assumption, which defines the causal pathways mapping environmental exposures to health outcomes. The sensitivity of the HIA to the framing assumptions is often ignored. A novel method based on fuzzy cognitive map (F...

Letters Community participation in health care Editor – I agree, but only in part, with the views expressed in the editorial " Community participation in health impact assessment: intuitively appealing but practically difficult " (1). The authors have considered many important issues relating to community participation, such as democratic processes, community empowerment, and top-down professio...

OBJECTIVES Health Impact Assessments (HIA) approach can be executed by calculating the attributable burden of disease. The most common indicators used in the HIA methodology are: premature mortality, morbidity, life-expectancy, and Disability Adjusted Life-Year (DALY). The term Disability Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) indicates months/years lost due to a premature death or disability. The aim of ...