Health Impact Assessment

With the establishment of the HIA Support Unit in the Ministry of Health, material previously on this site has been moved to www.moh.govt.nz/hiasupportunit

Health and wellbeing impact assessment (HIA) is a practical way of ensuring that the development of policies, plans and strategies take into account possible impacts on people’s health and wellbeing. It is a tool that also focuses on potential impacts on already vulnerable groups in our communities.

The Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC) has laid the groundwork of health and wellbeing impact assessment in New Zealand.

It produced A Guide to Health Impact Assessment, a comprehensive resource that has been used at local, regional, and national level. This publication also provided the basis for a Ministry of Health tool to assess policy impacts on Māori families, Whānau Ora Health Impact Assessment.

In 2007, the PHAC published An Idea whose time has come, a resource for central and local government agencies to increase their awareness and understanding of HIA.

PHAC advised the Minister of Health in 2006 that an HIA Support Unit needed to be established to support agencies to make HIA a routine part of their planning and policy development. A Support Unit has recently been established in the Ministry of Health and can be contacted for assistance and further information: www.moh.govt.nz/hiasupportunit

PHAC HIA publications

A Guide to Health Impact Assessment: A policy tool for New Zealand. 2005

• Health Impact Assessment: A Review of New Zealand Policy Experience. August 2006
• Phoenix Report - Research to Review Uptake of Health Impact Assessment. April 2006
• Review of International Policy Level HIA for the Public Health Advisory Committee. May 2005
• Report on Case Study in Public Transport Policy. Dec 2003
• Impacts of Transport on Health- an Overview. April 2003
• Intersections between Transport and Health: the Impacts of Transport on Health. April 2003
• New Zealand Evidence for Health Impacts of Transport. Dec 2002

An Idea Whose Time has Come: New Opportunities for Health Impact Assessment in NZ public policy and planning. 2007

• Health Impact Assessment - A Report on the Work of the Public Health Advisory Committee. August 2006
• Health Impact Assessment in New Zealand - Experience at a Policy Level. July 2006
• Research to Review Uptake of Health Impact Assessment. April 2006
• Review of International Policy Level HIA for the Public Health Advisory Committee. May 2005
• A Guide to HIA: a policy tool for New Zealand. 2nd Edition. June 2005

Page last updated: 25 October 2007