HIA in Local Government

A report on the role HIA in local government has been published by the by the HIA Unit at Deakin University.

Blau, G & Mahoney, M. 2005. The Positioning of Health Impact Assessment in Local Government, Deakin University , Melbourne.

From the executive summary:

In those countries where HIA is being applied either strategically or routinely at the local government level, it has directly improved local area planning and public policies, and has indirectly:

• encouraged key decision-makers in non-health departments to consider unanticipated health impacts of their decisions, particularly differential impacts across the municipality;
  
• facilitated intersectoral collaboration within local government;
  
• provided a systematic mechanism for evidence-based planning;
  
• encouraged ownership of local government decisions by utilising civic intelligence; and
  
• identified and made transparent trade-offs in local government decisionmaking.

Download the Report