Health Impact Assessment (HIA) provides decision-makers with information about how any policy, program, or project may affect the health of people. HIA identifies potential health consequences of policy, program, or project, and recommends appropriate actions to manage those consequences. Through a combination of procedures, methods, and tools, HIA provides a structure to bring short-term and long-term health outcomes to the forefront of decision-making.
The Oregon Public Health Division's Health Impact Assessment initiative focuses on building our collective statewide capacity to evaluate the health effects of projects and policies, and to provide the information to decision-makers. We do so through trainings, webinars, mentorship, technical assistance, small grants, hosting the HIA Network listserv, and various other outreach activities.
The HIA program aims to build capacity at the Oregon Public Health Division and local health departments to conduct HIAs in Oregon, raise awareness of HIA, identify and develop resources to sustain HIA efforts in Oregon, and continue to maintain and build a collaborative approach with multiple statewide HIA partners. We do so by providing training and technical assistance to our partners, small grants to local health departments, and working closely with the Oregon HIA Network, a diverse group of partners committed to advancing HIA in the region
