An Idea Whose Time Has Come: New opportunities for HIA in New Zealand public policy and planning

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An Idea Whose Time Has Come

New opportunities for HIA in New Zealand public policy and planning

Date of publication: March 2007

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Summary
New opportunities for Health Impact Assessment in New Zealand public policy and planning

This publication from the New Zealand Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC) encourages policy makers to carry out a health impact assessment (HIA) as a routine part of policy making. It discusses what health impacts are, the benefits of HIA, what the PHAC has learned from its work on HIA, describes some HIA case studies, and considers what is needed to make HIA a routine part of policy making in New Zealand.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come discusses how good health and wellbeing of the population is largely a product of the settings in which people live, work and play. This means that improving the health and wellbeing of the population requires more than the provision of health care services. It requires new ways of working together with new approaches and new tools.

Public policies aim to benefit the whole population but can result in unintended negative effects on health and wellbeing, including the widening of health disparities. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is used to assist in reducing health inequalities through planning and policy-making processes.

HIA is a formal process that aims to ensure public policies, programmes and plans enhance the potentially beneficial effects on health and wellbeing and reduce or mitigate the potential harm with innovative solutions. Although relatively new in New Zealand, it is a well-established approach internationally.

The publication shows how use of HIA can also improve intersectoral collaboration and community participation, and be an effective way of promoting community wellbeing across sectors. HIA assists agencies to fulfil statutory obligations for community health and wellbeing, for example under the Local Government Act 2002, the Land Transport Management Act 2003 and the Building Act 2004. It also has strong links with sustainable development goals.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come includes a number of New Zealand case studies that demonstrate the HIA process. HIA is undertaken when there is a draft proposal(s) but no commitment has been made. There must be an opportunity to modify the policy proposal for improvement of health and wellbeing. The process is informed by both quantitative and qualitative evidence, and focuses on outcomes.

International experience has shown that an explicit and systematic process, such as HIA, is needed to ensure the availability of sufficient technical information. It also ensures that health is broadly defined (to include wellbeing) and that equity issues are addressed. The publication supports HIA becoming part of agency ethos so it is a routine part of decision-making.

This publication is also related to the 2006 PHAC publication Health is everyone’s business, which emphasises that effective action to improve health and reduce health inequalities will involve collaborative effort across sectors.

Publication availability
This publication is available in Word and PDF format below:

An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Word, 1 MB)
An Idea Whose Time Has Come (PDF, 3 MB)

This publication is also available in hard copy. You can order a copy by emailing moh@wickliffe.co.nz or calling 04 496 2277 quoting HP number 4335. Please let us know your name, your physical address and how many copies you would like.

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Publishing information
Date of publication: March 2007

ISsBN: 0-478-28518-3 (Book)
ISsBN: 0-478-28519-1 (Internet)

HP number: 4335

Publications

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

New opportunities for HIA in New Zealand public policy and planning

Summary

Publication availability

Publishing information

Related information