Oral

This session will focus on advancing discussion and practice of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as a tool for social justice. HIA is a flexible but structured process to determine a proposed policy or projectˇ¦s impact on health, and health disparities, and to recommend mitigations to ensure the policy or project decision avoids potential negative impacts to community health. HIAs address the root causes of health problems; encourage collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including communities facing health inequities; and use quantitative and qualitative data and analysis to predict the health outcomes of proposed planning and policy decisions. Additionally, HIAs can be used to increase the ability of public health agencies to influence ˇ§non-healthˇ¨ policy. This session will describe the use of HIA by community advocates; public health, planning and other government agencies; and other stakeholders to ensure health impacts are considered in the context of policy reform and transportation and land use development decisions. HIA will be reviewed in the context of the following projects, plans and policies: „X the expansion of the I-710 freeway, which serves as the major goods movement route to and from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; „X affordable housing development projects in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Pittsburg, CA and Denver, CO; and „X a California statewide Cap and Trade policy, the HIA of which aims to ensure that communities currently burdened with excess air pollution benefit from the proposed emission cuts; „X an evaluation of HIA as a policy tool conducted by the Health Impact Project, the Centers for Disease Control, and Johns Hopkins University;. Attendees will learn examples of projects and policies that HIA is applicable to, how to navigate the practical steps of conducting a HIA, and how to use the HIA process and findings to promote health and justice.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be better able to 1.Describe the value of health impact assessment as a tool to help decision-makers integrate health information into the planning of proposed projects, plans, or policies. 2.Demonstrate how HIA process and methods can be used to facilitate collaboration among diverse groups of stakeholders. 3.Explain how to identify health impacts of concern to stakeholders that could be analyzed using HIA.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)