Health and integrated impact assessment

Mirko Winkler from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel will give a Talk about his ongoing work on Health and integrated impact assessments.

Abstract:
Health impact assessment (HIA) is an interdisciplinary approach that aims at predicting and managing potential positive and negative health effects of policies, programmes, and projects on affected communities and populations. HIA has been developed over the past two decades and became an integral part of public health policies of many governments in countries with a high human development index (HDI). However, in many low- and middle-HDI countries, where two-third of the world’s population are now concentrated, HIA is still the exception rather than the norm. In view of the high burden of diseases and pronounced health inequalities in tropical areas, this is a concern. Furthermore, it is anticipated that major drivers of global change (e.g. population growth and urbanization, increasing demand for natural resources and regional climate change) will have severe health implications, particularly in the developing world.
In this seminar, Dr. Mirko Winkler will introduce the concept of HIA in combination with research designs that aim at integrated impact assessment for identifying more holistic solutions. Concepts and research frameworks will be introduced against the background of two case studies from Sierra Leone (HIA of a large biofuel project) and Costa Rica (integrated impact assessment of pesticide use in small-scale organic and conventional famers). The presentation will close with reflections on sustainability impact assessment from an HIA perspective.