Creating a Sustainable Model for Health Departments to Use Health Impact Assessment for Effective Planning and Policy Development

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a framework intended to integrate health into planning and policy-making processes. In 2009, Wisconsin's Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health (BEOH) was one of four state agencies awarded funding by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to build capacity among state and local partners to implement HIAs by providing training, technical assistance, partner outreach and offering mini-grants to local health departments (LHDs).

Since initiation of Wisconsin's HIA Program, BEOH has trained state and county agencies, screened several policies and projects for HIA, conducted HIA webinars, developed an online toolkit, conducted two pilot studies, and provided technical assistance for three mini-grants to LHDs. Perhaps most importantly, BEOH has fortified existing and developed new collaborative relationships, increasing the breadth and depth of partnerships, and the likelihood of health considerations in decision-making.

Traditional and non-traditional public health practitioners share an excitement for the potential for HIA to become a powerful and meaningful public health tool that ensures planning decisions and policies are developed in a manner which considers projected positive and negative health impacts for all citizens. Despite ongoing efforts and widespread interest, strategies to secure long-term sustainability of HIA use is a critical concern. Moreover, additional resource and infrastructure challenges including definition of roles, competing priorities, best practices, and broad institutionalization also pose barriers. This session will offer an opportunity to discuss lessons learned in the HIA capacity-building process and a dynamic exchange on potential solutions and strategies to overcome existing barriers.