The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) seeks to support the efforts of the Canadian public health community and its partners in promoting healthy public policy through more informed strategies. Among other things, the Centre focuses on Health Impact Assessment (HIA), a tool that helps shed light on decision-making related to the development of policies, programs or projects that could have effects on the population's overall health. There are many HIA guides and tools. The NCCHPP has identified them from the main internet sites on the subject.
1) HIA Guides and Tools
The instruments are divided into three groups corresponding to the three following sections. To access and navigate one of these sections directly, click on one of the titles.
General Guides and Orientation Documents
Applied Guides and Tools (Particular Activity Sectors or Themes)
General Tools
2) Our Selected Favourites
Each guide and tool has specific characteristics. It is therefore up to users, whether they are decision makers, policy analysts, public health actors, or community groups interested in HIA, to choose which ones best suit their needs.To help users make an enlightened choice, the Centre draws their attention to the following guides:
General Guides
HIA Step by Step
Health impact assessment: A practical guide (Australia, 2007)
A structured and substantial guide covering both the practical aspects of HIA and the concepts and theories that go along with them. The material is supported by examples drawn from HIA experiences.
HIA at the Local Level
Health Impact Assessment Toolkit for Cities: Vision to Action(Europe, 2005)
A guide that presents the broad lines of HIA and a way to introduce it at the local level, without being linked to a specific national context.
HIA at the Strategic Level
A Guide to Health Impact Assessment : A Policy Tool for New Zeland, 2nd edition (New Zealand, 2005)
A complete guide offering a variety of tools that can be applied at the government level. The tools were developed from two case studies and reviewed based on users' comments.
Applied Guides
Certain guides and tools were developed based on a particular theme (e.g. equality, mental health), by applying to a precise activity sector (e.g. housing) or by targeting a specific population (e.g. Aboriginal). The Centre draws the attention of users to the following guide:
Community Development
PATHways II: The Next Steps – A Guide to Community Health Impact Assessment (Canada, 2002)
A guide offering a participative approach to HIA at the community level.
Finally, even though they often touch on health or certain determinants of health, a number of guides and tools were not listed because they were more about other types of impact assessment (e.g. social impact assessment). However, these approaches are still valuable and may be relevant for health actors.