Implementation of health impact assessment and health in environmental assessment across the WHO European Region

Overview

Health impact assessments (‎HIAs)‎ offer crucial support to decision-makers within and outside the health sector to identify and estimate possible health impacts of proposed policies, plans, programmes or projects. The HIA methodology is well established, and HIAs have been developed and deployed around the world. They are predominantly conducted on a voluntary basis, however, and few countries in the WHO European Region have introduced legal requirements for them, so implementation varies widely. Conversely, environmental assessments, which should also take into consideration impacts on human health, are widely included in legislation across the Region. As institutionalization of HIAs and integration of health in legally required environmental assessment varies, countries continue to request support from WHO for further implementation of HIA. This report presents the results of three literature reviews and two online surveys conducted between 2015 and 2021, and develops suggestions for further action to implement HIAs and enhance inclusion of health in environmental assessments.