HIA - A Tool to Bridge Planning and Public Health: Case Studies and Lessons Learned from Wisconsin

Recognition is growing outside of the traditional sphere of public health of the substantial impact that the social determinants of health (SDOH), “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age,” have on downstream health outcomes. Most common chronic health issues today involve these upstream SDOH. While all SDOH affect downstream health outcomes, much focus has grown around a particular SDOH, the physical environment, which includes such issues as land-use, housing and transportation planning. In order to halt and eventually reverse the negative health outcomes our communities are currently facing, there is a great need for incorporating SDOH into decision making processes. One way of doing this is through the use of Health Impact Assessment (HIA), a tool that intervenes on poor decision-making practices, thus assisting in decision-making related to planning our physical environment. HIA is most effective when conducted by multi-sector stakeholders through collaborations between public health professionals, planners and other groups and organizations. This HIA involved collaborations between public health, planning, local government organizations and community members in a future land use scenario planning project. The use of HIA allowed community members to become engaged in planning their community by determining what health issues they cared about addressing most and how those health issues related to potential growth plan scenario options. Lessons learned relate to the use of HIA for land use planning, and a need to streamline the tool, have greater stakeholder engagement throughout the HIA process, and continued multi-sectoral collaborations.