225023 Building policy capacity through a community-based health impact assessment

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Kristine Suozzi, PhD , New Mexico Health Equity Working Group, Albuquerque, NM
Victoria Sanchez, DrPH , Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Jacqueline Garcia, BA , Master in Public Health Program, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Kitty Richards , Bernallilo County, Office of Environmental Health, Albuquerque, NM
Health Impact Assessments (HIA) offer tangible methodologies to engage community partners in influencing health policy at the local level. HIAs have been particularly useful in low-income communities of color in addressing health disparities. HIAs also serve to link public health practitioners with other disciplines such as land use planning and transportation and help translate social justice principles into practice. Local, community-based partnerships are key participants and leaders in addressing social and health problems in their communities. Such partnerships often work to assess community health needs and problems, develop plans to address priority problems, and in the best cases, implement and evaluate programs. The mission of the New Mexico Health Equity Working Group (NMHEWG) is to promote health equity in New Mexico by reframing the predominant view of health to include and address the social determinants (social, economic and political factors) of health. The NMHEWG is comprised of a wide variety of over 100 individuals, community-based organizations, academic partners, and agencies. We report on our participatory research process designed to improve the capacity of the NMEWG to engage in policy action through a community-based HIA.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe a health impact assessment and list at least two conditions for applying HIA. 2. Describe when a health impact assessment would be useful, and when it would not. 3. Describe how an HIA may help a local level develop appropriate policies.

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Community Capacity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a co-leader of our participatory research study on HIA.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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