Pre-conference: Competences and training needs for better implementation of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) across Europe

Wednesday 8 November, 13:15 - 17:00 Dublin time (starting with network lunch at 12:30)


Organised by:

EUPHA Health impact assessment section 

Intorduction

Policies, plans, and projects in all sectors can have both positive and negative impacts on population health. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a tool that allows policymakers and project developers to assess and manage the consequences of their proposals on the health and equity of the affected population. Several surveys conducted nationally and across Europe identified barriers that hinder a broader and more extensive practical application of HIA.
One of these limitations refers to a lack of HIA training, experience, certification, and competency frameworks. Respondents from those surveys also mentioned a history of unsatisfactory experiences involving intersectoral collaboration with health professionals, decision makers and other public sector stakeholders. Agencies, such as national and regional Public Health Institutes (PHIs), and Academia can play a critical role in overcoming these limitations.

Objectives

  • Share practical experiences of HIA, as well as of HIA training and capacity building programs from different countries and institutions;
  • Extract learning ideas on competencies, attitudes and values necessary for conducting a successful HIA fit for purpose;
  • Share ideas of core elements to define training curricula on HIA.

Agenda

  • Presentation of practical HIA experiences, explaining the type of skills and competences required for conducting such experiences;
  • Presentation of several HIA training approaches, focused on type of audience, format, definition of learning objectives and competencies, and results (students satisfaction, utility for conducting HIA afterwards);
  • Establishing small working groups and sharing experiences and ideas about the competencies and abilities needed for conducting HIA, from either previous presentations or personal experiences, adding what other elements would be necessary.

Programme

The programme can be downloaded here.

Coordinators:

  • Piedad Martin-Olmedo, president of HIA section; professor at Andalusian School of Public Health (Granada,
    Spain)
  • Liz Green, Programme Director of HIA, Public Health Wales
  • Mirko Winkler, Professor, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
  • Joanna Purdy, Public Health Development Officer at the Institute of Public Health in Ireland
  • Martin Birley, consultant in HIA, England
  • Francesca Villiani, consultant in HIA, Italy
  • Odile Mekel, vice-presidents of EUPHA-HIA section
  • Luciana Costa, Health Promotion and Prevention of NCDs, National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Monica O’Mullane, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21), University
    College Cork, Cork, Ireland
  • Margaret Douglas, Public Health Scotland and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow
  • Ben Cave, consultant in HIA, England

Registration

The registration fee is € 75 which includes networking lunch and refreshments.