Oral

This session will review approaches currently being applied under the rubric of "health impact assessment." These methods are intended to analyze the impacts of actions taken outside the public health sector on health, particularly those related to the built environment. Health impact assessments are also intended to convey the analyses to policy makers. The session will provide examples of how health impact assessments have been used in both rural and urban settings and point to lessons learned. The session will also discuss proposed approaches to measure the impact of health impact assessments on decisions made and will identify new resources to support the practice of health impact assessment. This session is important because, while health impact assessment is addressing critical public health issues in innovative ways, attention is needed to building common vocabulary and identifying successful methods. This session will advance this by bringing together results from leading thinkers and practitioners.

Session Objectives: 1. To discuss current knowledge and practice about the use of health impact assessment in policy-relevant contexts to analyze the public health significance of actions that affect the built environment. 2. To analyze how health impact assessment has been applied in particular community settings and draw conclusions about successful approaches. 3. To understand how the discipline can be advanced through evaluation of the success of individual projects and improved access to relevant resources.