Applying a health lens to non-health policy-making: Building relationships and finding co-benefits

Health in all policies (HiAP) has become a term of art in public health practice and in cross-sector partnerships that include health among their objectives. However, all who work to improve the public’s health must pay attention to the complex and layered context behind this useful concept. As explained to the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Population Health Improvement at its September 2013 workshop, harnessing the potential of interdisciplinary and cross-sector efforts also requires a sensitivity to language and to such issues as differences in agency authority and organizational culture. The other critical aspect to HiAP efforts is to recognize that contemporary health disparities are the consequences of deliberate social policies that created profound and persistent inequities in the conditions that shape the health of communities.

The roundtable’s workshop showcased HiAP perspectives and examples from federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as lessons from the work of a large health care organization and a state public health agency that staffs a state-wide effort with public and private sector stakeholders and partners. From the broad notion of “healthy community design” to the even more specific concept of “complete streets,” workshop summary highlights include: how governmental and business sectors can learn from each other in weighing the health implications of all their policies; how state authority in transportation design and local land use authority can be brought into fruitful interaction; and how difficult economic times intensify the need to find value through joint approaches and integrated solutions.