Urban development and extractive industries: What can HIA offer?

HIA IN CITIES: A TOOL FOR URBAN HEALTH GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a means of assessing the health impacts of policies, plans and projects in diverse economic sectors using quantitative, qualitative and participatory techniques.

HIA helps decision-makers make choices about alternatives and improvements to prevent disease/injury and to actively promote health. WHO supports tools and initiatives in HIA to dynamically improve health and well-being across sectors.

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 will be presented and fundamental questions about how to strengthen the use of HIA in cities and use HIA as a tool to improve urban health will be addressed.

HIA OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY (OIL, GAS AND MINING)

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.

This event coincides with World Health Day 2010, whose theme is urban health: "1000 cities - 1000 lives"

further information: http://www.who.int/hia/conference/en/index.html