Health Impact Assessments

There are widespread inequalities in health across the whole of Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government sees Health Impact Assessment as a tool to ensure policies, programmes and projects are assessed not only for their overall effect on health but also, to show that they will contribute to reducing inequalities, or at very least not increasing them. (National Assembly for Wales, 1999)

Achieving a reduction in inequalities in health can only be realised by putting in place sustainable means of improving and maintaining health and wellbeing.

Health impact assessment builds on the now generally accepted understanding that a community's health is not only determined by health services but by the wider determinants of health It is important to estimate the effects of the wider determinants, and therefore influences on health – which is the overarching aim of the health impact assessment.

The World Health Organisation defines health impact assessment as;

"A combination of procedures or methods by which a policy, programme or project may be judged as to the effect(s) it may have on the health of a population."

(World Health Organisation, 1999b)

The health impact assessment model allows for an increased awareness of complex health causation issues and provides a useful evidence base for health policy. It can improve the way in which decisions are made by using the best evidence available. As the focus is on those who would be affected by a policy or project, it can help ensure that those who are most vulnerable to the causes of ill health will benefit the most. It is therefore a valuable tool in ensuring that any health consequences of a policy or project are not overlooked, and it may identify additional opportunities to protect and improve health and well-being. (Welsh Assembly Government, 2004)