What is a Health Impact Assessment?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is “a combination of procedures, methods, and tools by which a policy, program, or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of effects within the population.” HIAs have also been described as an emerging discipline that evaluates the impact of specific policies and projects on health, where health is broadly defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely by the absence of disease or infirmity.
