Bringing community voice to the decision-making table using Health Impact Assessment

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Adelaide Statement on Health in All Policies (HiAP), describing the value of HiAP and how to successfully integrate health, well-being and equity into policy-making.  WHO clearly stated that a successful HiAP approach incorporates thoughtful stakeholder participation that authentically engages people from communities that are impacted by policies as well as diverse agencies and organizations. Health impact assessment (HIA), a research and public engagement tool used by public health experts, academics, community organizations, and policy advocates to inform decision-makers about the health implications of policy and land-use decisions is one tool for achieving HiAP.

In 2010, a Stakeholder Engagement workgroup grew out of the HIA of the Americas Workshop. The workgroup guides HIA practitioners to improve their practice of stakeholder engagement within the field of HIA and has developed various resources to support best practices. This talk will utilize the collective knowledge of this group to present examples of tangible outcomes that have resulted from exemplary engagement of community members in health impact assessments on various policy, program, and planning decisions. HIA case studies will show how policies, programs or plans better mirror community values and needs because of authentic community engagement throughout decision-making processes. The presenters will then lead a discussion among participants of their experiences of engaging community in situations where policy or land use decisions are being made with the goal of documenting learnings to feed into the field of HIA and HiAP.