141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

289800
Promoting equity through the practice of health impact assessment in king county, Washington

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Ngozi T. Oleru, PhD , Environmental Public Health Division, Public Health - Seattle & King County, Seattle, WA
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is an important tool for advancing health and equity. HIAs help inform decision makers and other stakeholders about the likely health impacts associated with a proposed public decision (e.g., proposed policy, program, plan, or project), and they provide information that serves as the basis of recommendations for ensuring that the decision improves health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable. As more health practitioners are picking up HIA as a tool to advance health, it's critical to provide guidance on the robust inclusion of equity in order to eliminate prevalent health disparities.

The Public Health Department of Seattle & King County (PHSKC) has been engaged on an advisory committee to guide the development of a new publication, Promoting Equity through the Practice of Health Impact Assessment, due out in March 2013. This paper supports the PHSKC's dedication to equity and social justice as laid out in the county's executive order and accompanying required practices. PHSKC has conducted two HIAs to date and continues to view HIAs as an important tool for advancing health and equity in the region.

This presentation will describe several of the equity principles described in the new publication, discuss the ways in which those principles were implemented in the Seattle, King County region, as well as share challenges and lessons learned from the HIA implementation process. This presentation is part of a proposed panel titled Promoting Equity through the Practice of Health Impact Assessment.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the principles of equity in the practice of health impact assessment(HIA). Define and describe how these principles have been used in the HIAs done in King County, Washington

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Division Director of Environ. Health, Pub. Health Seattle and King County; Co-chair, Equity and Social Justice Interbranch Team,King County,
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.