Report of Workshop to Strengthen Capacity on Health Impact Assessment in South-East Asia

Overview

The workshop to strengthen capacity on Health Impact Assessment in South-East Asia was held in Pattaya, Thailand, from 22 to 25 September 2015. The main thrust of the workshop was to strengthen capacity in planning for implementation of and/or design suitable health impact assessments.

The participants shared current country experiences in health and other impact assessments in the SEA Region. Policy briefs and various procedures and models on the health impact assessments were shared and deliberated among the participants. Field visits to industrial estates, affected communities, and provincial health offices in Rayon province enhanced understanding of health impact assessment (HIA) and community health impact assessment (CHIA) in Thailand. Discussions were also held on the current healthy public policies and the way forward for integrating HIA in health action plans. For the SEA Region, HIA is an important tool, toward HiAP in various countries where multisectoral approach to address complex determinants of health figure prominently in national priorities.

A number of recommendations were made including developing the country specific HIA / CHIA / EHIA tools, etc.