HIA Rapid Assessment
Design for Health's (DFH) HIA Rapid Assessment is an interactive workshop that brings together stakeholders to identify and assess health impacts. The term "rapid assessment" seems to indicate a quick process and the workshop that is at the core of the process is over in under a day, however, preparing materials and writing up the results can take some weeks. Although it does require significant preparation, much of the information is similar to what is collected for the plan or policy under review (e.g., comprehensive plan, development proposal, etc). Background information on health is available from the DFH Key Questions series and examples of plan and ordinance language and plan implementation tools are available from the Planning Information Sheets.
The DFH Rapid Health Impact Assessment Toolkit provides instructions for all phases of the rapid assessment in a format oriented toward urban-planning concerns. The rapid assessment draws on a number of previous examples, including the Merseyside model.
Resources:
- HIA Rapid Assessment PowerPoint Presentation
For a newer version of this presentation, please see Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Presentations.
- Participation and Planning for Health
How can the public participate in planning for health? Which Design for Health tools can be used in participation processes or modified for such use? This fact sheet deals with these two issues in turn.
- Communicating about Health Impacts (80 KB)
Health impact assessment (HIA) tools produce a large amount of useful information about various health topics, the location of health impacts, and who is affected by a project, plan, or policy. This fact sheet presents practical ideas for presenting information about the HIA process and the findings of HIA studies to a variety of audiences.
- Comprehensive Plan Review Checklists
These checklists summarize the key points of the DFH background and HIA materials. Topics match the plan elements required by the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council.
- Health Data
This DFH section provides tools on how to access information about health within your community, as well on how to measure the effects that the built environment has on certain health issues.
- The Merseyside Guidelines for Health Impact Assessment (2nd ed.) 2001
Published by the International Health IMPACT Assessment Consortium, this is often cited as the most widely used HIA model in England.
- Erica Ison 2002. Rapid Appraisal Tool for Health Impact Assessment: A Task-Based Approach. (11th ed.) Oxford: Institute of Health Sciences.
- Alconbury Health Impact Assessment; Final Report (3.3 MB)
This summary report "From Bombs to Boom! Health Impact Assessment on a Former Air Base" provides an example of a well-illustrated final HIA rapid assessment report. The proposed Alconbury airfield redevelopment was for a road and rail freight-distribution center. Initial screening for potential health impacts identified both positive and negative consequences for human health and well-being, within the population of interest.
- Health Impact Assessment: Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Options (2006)
This is a report on a HIA undertaken by the Canterbury District Health Board in New Zealand. The report formally documents the rationale behind performing a HIA on the strategy, the process involved and the conclusions reached.
- Health Impact Assessment: Dove Gardens
This report details the findings of a HIA carried out on a housing redevelopment project in Derry, England, in 2005. The report offers examples of each of the steps involved in preparing the HIA, as well as results and recommendations.
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