Health impact assessment in Latin American countries: Current practice and prospects

With the objective to avoid and mitigate potential adverse health impacts of projects, programmes and policies, health impact assessment (HIA) offers an opportunity for disease prevention and health promotion. Although HIA has gained importance over the past two decades, it is unclear whether and to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental impact assessment review 2017-07, Vol.65, p.175-185
Main Authors: Pereira, Carlos A.R., Périssé, André R.S., Knoblauch, Astrid M., Utzinger, Jürg, Hacon, Sandra de Souza, Winkler, Mirko S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BRAZIL
Criteria
CUBA
Departments
Disease prevention
ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Government agencies
Guidelines
Health education
Health impact assessment
Health impact evaluation
Health promotion
Health risk assessment
Impact assessment methodology
Institutions
Latin America
Literature reviews
MEXICO
PARTICLE TRACKS
Peers
Policy making
Prospects
RECOMMENDATIONS
Regions
Search engines
Systematic review
Websites
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Summary:With the objective to avoid and mitigate potential adverse health impacts of projects, programmes and policies, health impact assessment (HIA) offers an opportunity for disease prevention and health promotion. Although HIA has gained importance over the past two decades, it is unclear whether and to what extent HIA practice has been established and institutionalised in Latin America. To address this issue, the current practice and prospects of HIA in Latin America was assessed in the peer-reviewed literature and existing guidelines. The peer-reviewed literature was systematically searched using five electronic databases until February 2016. Studies were included on a set of pre-defined criteria. The search was carried out in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Additionally, a search for HIA guidelines used in Latin American countries and territories was performed by means of a Google search and on websites of government departments and institutions that may promote HIA. The search yielded 167 hits in the peer-reviewed literature of which 17 articles met inclusion criteria. Only four peer-reviewed articles described prospective HIAs and four featured a discussion of the HIA approach. The remaining nine articles presented health impact evaluations. Most studies were published only recently, after 2012 (88%). Seven HIA guideline documents were identified, two of which were country-specific (i.e. Brazil and Mexico) and the remaining five addressed HIA at the regional level. This study confirmed the paucity of literature pertaining to HIA implementation, as well as HIA guidelines in Latin America. Mexico, Brazil and Cuba have the longest track record in scientific literature and guidelines on HIA. In order to better understand current barriers and limitations to practice and institutionalisation of HIA in Latin American countries, a broad discussion among policy makers, academic institutions and HIA practitioners is warranted nationally and regionally. •We conducted a systematic review pertaining to HIA and a search for guidelines on HIA in use in Latin America.•We identified 17 peer-reviewed articles, four of which were prospective HIAs.•Seven HIA guideline documents were identified, with two country-specific pieces.•There is a paucity of HIA articles in the peer-reviewed literature and guidelines in Latin America, but the situation is improving.
ISSN:0195-9255
1873-6432
DOI:10.1016/j.eiar.2016.09.005