scholarly journals Ten Years of SOPHIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Gina Powers ◽  
Cynthia Stone
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Board Member ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
Health Impact Assessments

In 2021, the Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA) celebrates its 10-year anniversary.  As part of the celebration, we asked founding SOPHIA members and key SOPHIA leaders to reflect on the organization’s formation in 2011, to share their thoughts on SOPHIA’s key challenges and to highlight important accomplishments. Respondents also weighed in on the future of SOPHIA and the value of SOPHIA membership.  Research was conducted using written surveys, interviews, and review of written material.  Surveys were sent in July of 2021 to eleven active SOPHIA members, many of whom have served as president, vice president, board member or founding member for SOPHIA.  Of the eight survey recipients who were interviewed or completed the written survey, nearly all have been conducting Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) for 10 or more years. Survey respondents’ HIA experience included assessments focused on a variety of policies, projects and programs, including housing, land use, economic security, the built environment, transportation, immigration policies, minimum wage policies, criminal justice and more. This article includes information gleaned through written material review; however, it is largely based on the feedback, insights and experiences shared by survey respondents verbally and in writing.

A REVIEW OF FINNISH SOCIAL AND HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

2004 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAPANI KAUPPINEN ◽  
KIRSI NELIMARKKA
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Health Impact Assessments ◽  
Strategic Impact ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ways in which Human Impact Assessment has been integrated into plans and programmes in Finland. The EIA Act requires that the impacts on humans should also be taken into account in assessment. The programmes reviewed have been selected from various sectors, including traffic, energy, forestry and land use. Some common features, strengths and development needs were revealed in the impact assessments. On the basis of this material, at least three procedural challenges to strategic impact assessment can be identified: the differentiation between impacts caused by the programme and other societal changes; the sufficient assessment of undesirable impacts; and the definition of concepts used in the programmes.

scholarly journals Population Dynamics and Air Pollution: The Impact of Demographics on Health Impact Assessment of Air Pollution

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esben Meulengracht Flachs ◽  
Jan Sørensen ◽  
Jakob Bønløkke ◽  
Henrik Brønnum-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Life Years ◽  
Health Impact Assessments ◽  
Mortality Causes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Municipal Level

Objective. To explore how three different assumptions on demographics affect the health impact of Danish emitted air pollution in Denmark from 2005 to 2030, with health impact modeled from 2005 to 2050.Methods. Modeled air pollution from Danish sources was used as exposure in a newly developed health impact assessment model, which models four major diseases and mortality causes in addition to all-cause mortality. The modeling was at the municipal level, which divides the approximately 5.5 M residents in Denmark into 99 municipalities. Three sets of demographic assumptions were used: (1) a static year 2005 population, (2) morbidity and mortality fixed at the year 2005 level, or (3) an expected development.Results. The health impact of air pollution was estimated at 672,000, 290,000, and 280,000 lost life years depending on demographic assumptions and the corresponding social costs at 430.4 M€, 317.5 M€, and 261.6 M€ through the modeled years 2005–2050.Conclusion. The modeled health impact of air pollution differed widely with the demographic assumptions, and thus demographics and assumptions on demographics played a key role in making health impact assessments on air pollution.

scholarly journals Community Health Impact Assessment in Ghana: Contemporary Concepts and Practical Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 004695801984529
Author(s):  
Da-Costa Aboagye ◽  
Kwame Akuffo ◽  
Hafiz T. A. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Gain ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Actual Case ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Health Impact Assessments ◽  
Policies And Programs

It has long been recognized that health and its determinants are strongly influenced by policies, programs, and projects outside of the health care sector. Few countries have introduced health impact assessments (HIA) to try and ensure that probable impacts on health are considered. An appropriate health impact assessment regime will identify negative and positive impacts of proposed health policies and programs on health, enable the interpretation of health risk and potential health gain, and present the information to assist in decision making. These HIAs are often generic and rapid desk–based appraisals characterized by the use of information and evidence that is already available or easily accessible and generally undertaken by administrators in an organization to gain a snapshot of the health impacts to inform proposal direction. Rapid and generic desk–based assessments require less-intensive effort and resources and draws on existing data sources from scientific peer-reviewed and gray literature to analyze potential health impacts. However, both sources can also be used to determining whether a more detailed review is necessary. The Community HIA model proposed by this work departs from the generic and rapid desk–based appraisals and is intended to provide practical evidence to give higher priority to people’s viewpoints, promote participation, understanding and incorporate community voices to help shape future policy, programs, and practice. A comprehensive review of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was carried out using the generic desk–based HIA approach. This was followed by a practical qualitative community field work. In this research, we have demonstrated how community HIA is to be conducted through an actual case study in the Ghanaian West African context. The scope of this work is wide and incorporates the consideration of key concepts and possible methods for carrying out HIA at the community level.

scholarly journals Health Impacts of Increased Physical Activity from Changes in Transportation Infrastructure: Quantitative Estimates for Three Communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore J. Mansfield ◽  
Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Transportation Infrastructure ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
Health Impact Assessments

Recently, two quantitative tools have emerged for predicting the health impacts of projects that change population physical activity: the Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) and Dynamic Modeling for Health Impact Assessment (DYNAMO-HIA). HEAT has been used to support health impact assessments of transportation infrastructure projects, but DYNAMO-HIA has not been previously employed for this purpose nor have the two tools been compared. To demonstrate the use of DYNAMO-HIA for supporting health impact assessments of transportation infrastructure projects, we employed the model in three communities (urban, suburban, and rural) in North Carolina. We also compared DYNAMO-HIA and HEAT predictions in the urban community. Using DYNAMO-HIA, we estimated benefit-cost ratios of 20.2 (95% C.I.: 8.7–30.6), 0.6 (0.3–0.9), and 4.7 (2.1–7.1) for the urban, suburban, and rural projects, respectively. For a 40-year time period, the HEAT predictions of deaths avoided by the urban infrastructure project were three times as high as DYNAMO-HIA’s predictions due to HEAT’s inability to account for changing population health characteristics over time. Quantitative health impact assessment coupled with economic valuation is a powerful tool for integrating health considerations into transportation decision-making. However, to avoid overestimating benefits, such quantitative HIAs should use dynamic, rather than static, approaches.

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