For those interested in the broad situation of health and place globally, the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory is a useful resource. The observatory includes data repository, reports, and a useful map gallery. Maps, using data at the country scale, cover a wide range of topics from average cholesterol and avian influenza to health expenditure. These are clear maps at a similar scale and a terrific resource.
The WHO Healthy Cities Program has been around since the mid-1980s and but is not as well known in the United States as it perhaps should be. The program is focused on “health development through a process of political commitment, institutional change, capacity-building, partnership-based planning and innovative projects” (http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/environment-and-health/urban-health/activities/healthy-cities). Healthy city activities typically focus on fostering collaborations and partnerships to promote health with a refreshing mix of interventions—policies, programs, and plans. Activities that won Healthy Cities Awards in recent years include schools that promote urban health, injury and violence prevention activities, best practices in public toilets, and healthy urban transportation (http://www.alliance-healthycities.com/htmls/awards/index_awards.html).
The WHO European office has a useful healthy cities checklist that shows the wide range of topics of interest to the program from ecosystem health and public participation to diversity and economic vitality. You can read the whole list at http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/environment-and-health/urban-health/activities/healthy-cities/who-european-healthy-cities-network/what-is-a-healthy-city/healthy-city-checklist.
>How health impact assessment can make a difference is an issue of some interest at present. For those wanting to explore HIA online, several major clearinghouses provide a wealth of information from legislative updates to workbooks.
- Centers for Disease Control HIA Resources: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/hia.htm
This page is a useful index of major sources and an easy place to start.
- Health Impact Assessment Clearing House Learning and Information Center—HIA-CLIC at UCLA: http://www.hiaguide.org/
This terrific site had a wonderful training section with lots of resources: http://www.hiaguide.org/training/training-guides. They also have a section tracking legislation in the U.S.
- HIA Connect in Australia: http://www.hiaconnect.edu.au/index.htm
The HIA Practical Guide by HIA Connect, downloadable from this page, is a fairly short and very clear guide to HIA. HIA Connect also has an active eNews service.
- HIA Gateway, UK: http://www.apho.org.uk/default.aspx?QN=P_HIA
One of the best listing of HIAs around the world with a good advanced search feature that allows you to search by keyword, date, and geography: http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/advanced.aspx.
- Human Impact Partners, Oakland: http://www.humanimpact.org/
I particularly like their tools and resources section which includes a number of guides and worksheets: http://www.humanimpact.org/hips-hia-tools-and-resources. Be sure to scroll down the page.
- RWJF/Pew Health Impact Project: http://www.healthimpactproject.org/hia?id=0007
This is a fairly new project and their web site is evolving. Their news section is a useful part of the site: http://www.healthimpactproject.org/news.
- World Health Organization HIA: http://www.who.int/hia/en/
Determinants of health from .
Originally G. Dahgren (1995) European Health Policy Conference
Providing an international perspective this web site has a particularly strong section on HIA examples, classified by sector: http://www.who.int/hia/ examples/en/.
For more information about HIA go to the Design for Health web site at http://www.designforhealth.net/ resources/healthimpact.html.