Health Impact Assessment: Incorporating Health into Planning and Decision-Making

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Course Overview

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) can be used to evaluate a proposed plan or project’s potential effects on the health of a population. HIA provides evidence-based recommendations aimed at enhancing positive health impacts and minimizing negative ones, providing an approach to the decision-making process by:

1. Considering health outcomes such as social, economic, and environmental influences;
2. Convening diverse members of the public to elicit multiple perspectives and input;
3. Identifying groups of people who might be particularly vulnerable to health impacts; and
4. Reviewing potential strategies that may reduce negative health impacts and increase positive impacts.

In this session, the Planning Healthy Communities Initiative (PHCI) will lead an introductory training on health impact assessment as a tool to promote community health and equity in planning processes and decision-making. Participants will engage in group exercises related to HIA steps, discuss opportunities and challenges to integrating health into planning and policy processes, and learn about new statewide collaborative initiatives and emerging tools to build capacity for health advancement in planning, and to support health in all policies.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the broader context of health influences and the social determinants of health.
• Understand the principles, value, and use of HIA, as well as the steps involved in conducting an HIA.
• Understand applicability of HIA to planning, development, and land use decision-making and processes.
• Explore opportunities to incorporate HIA and/or health in all policies in local government decision-making.
• Review the resources available to local government decision-makers and citizens that wish to include health consideration in community planning.

Who Should Attend?

Practitioners and policymakers in a variety of sectors can benefit from this training, including:

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Leigh Ann Von Hagen, AICP/PP

A licensed professional planner, Leigh Ann Von Hagen is a Senior Research Specialist at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. A leader in bringing health considerations into non-health sector decisions, she was instrumental in launching several statewide health initiatives including Safe Routes to School, Sustainable Jersey, Mayors Wellness Campaign, and Shaping NJ.

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