Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Conference:
Urban development and extractive industries: What can HIA offer?

UNEP/Permdahl Vesm; Topfoto.co.uk UNEP/Shihua Zhao; UNEP/Carmel Fatima


The event coincided with World Health Day 2010, whose theme was urban health: "1000 cities - 1000 lives"

HIA in cities: a tool for urban health governance and accountability

OPENING REMARKS

Dr Maria Neira
Director, WHO/Department of Public Health and Environment
Ben Cave
Co-chair, HIA Section
International Association for Impact Assessment
(HIA event co-sponsors)

SESSION CHAIR

Joan Devlin
Programme Director, Belfast Healthy Cities
Chair, WHO European Healthy Cities HIA Sub network

RAPPORTEUR

Trudy Harpham, PhD
Emeritus Professor at London South Bank University, UK.
Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

PANEL PRESENTATIONS

Dr Ildefonso Hernandez Aguado
Director-General of Public Health and Foreign Health
Ministry of Health and Social Policy, Spain (European Union Presidency)

Dr Rajiv Bhatia
Director of Occupational and Environmental Health for the
San Francisco Department of Public Health, USA

Dr Jean Simos
Director, Research Group on Environment & Health (GRES)
University of Geneva,
Institute for Environmental Sciences, Switzerland

Erica Ison
WHO Expert Advisor to the European Healthy Cities,
Sub-Network on HIA

HIA OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY (OIL, GAS and MINING)

OPENING REMARKS

Dr Lucien Manga
Regional Focal Point and Programme Manager, Public Health and Environment, WHO African Regional Office
Francesca Viliani
HIA Practitioner, Co-chair, HIA Section, International Association for Impact Assessment

SESSION CHAIR

Dr Carlos Dora
Coordinator, WHO/Department of Public Health and Environment

PANEL PRESENTATIONS

Alexander Indorf
Senior Environmental Specialist, International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, USA

Dr Edith Clarke
Director of Occupational and Environmental Health Programmes, Ghana Health Services, Ghana

Dr Aaron Wernham
Director, The Health Impact Project, Washington DC, Pew Charitable Trusts, USA

Dr Filippo Uberti
International Medical Service Manager, Eni E&P Div- SMES, Milan, Italy

Dr Wiput Poolcharoen
Chair, HIA Development Committee, Thailand

Solveig Andresen
Senior Adviser, Energy Department Oil for Development, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Norway

Poster Session on HIA in urban development and extractive industries

These events were co-sponsored by IAIA

On the occasion of the annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), Geneva, 6-11 April, with the theme "Transitioning to a Green Economy"

HIA is increasingly used to assess health impacts from urban development of housing, transport and commercial/industrial areas.
Examples and experiences from various cities and settings were presented and fundamental questions about how to strengthen the use of HIA in cities and use HIA as a tool to improve urban health were addressed.

Invited panelists and participants included Senior European Union representatives, urban mayors, development banks, HIA practitioners and academics, NGOs working in cities and UN agencies.


HIA is increasingly used in extractive industries to assess and mitigate negative impacts of projects on community health, safety and security and enhance potentially positive impacts.

Invited panelists and participants included: health authorities , HIA practitioners, industry representatives, and financing institutions professional association, and European Union representatives.

Conference coordinator/organizer:

Dr Carlos Dora
Coordinator, Interventions for Healthy Environments (IHE)
Department of Protection of the Human Environment (PHE)
World Health Organization