Health impact assessment : environmental management vs healthy public policy perspective - exploring the nexus between the two

This paper will explore the links between the traditional role of HIA in an environmental management context and the new and emerging trend internationally to subject government policy to prospective HIA.  The goal of this new iteration of HIA is to develop healthy public policy across all sectors of government creating a more inclusive and evidence-based approach to public policy formation.  The risk-based, health protection approach is more widely understood, as it draws on existing health protection experience and is allied with risk assessment theory.  The new model is based on the health promotion perspective, and emphasizes social determinants of public health.  This latter approach draws on the foundations of the former.  It is vital that the links between the two are therefore considered especially from the perspective of transfer of knowledge between the two.  The paper will explore the similarities, the differences, the tensions and the lessons that can be learned.  It will report on the progress of a national study being conducted by Mary Mahoney and Gillian Durham that is looking at what is happening (or has happened) in other countires including Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom