At Global Action Plan, we are excited to be part of an innovative project that aims to transform how health considerations are integrated into public policy in Ireland.
Funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) under the Emerging Investigator Award scheme 2022, the “Health Impact Assessment Implementation Model (HIA-IM)” project began in January 2023 and will continue for four years. This collaborative effort is co-hosted by the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21) and the School of Public Health at University College Cork (UCC).
Our health is affected by decisions made in areas outside of public health, such as planning, transport, housing and education. Health Impact Assessments (HIA) ensure that health is considered in these and other important decisions.
HIAs help policy and decision-makers to understand how a proposed new law, policy, programme or project might affect the health of the community before it is implemented.”
What is HIA-IM?
The HIA-IM project is dedicated to embedding and normalising the practice of Health Impact Assessments (HIA) across all public policies in Ireland.
HIAs are essential tools that help analyse the potential health impacts of policies before they are implemented. By doing so, HIAs can highlight unintended negative effects and provide opportunities to modify policies to promote better health outcomes, particularly for marginalised groups.
Why is HIA Important?
Health Impact Assessments are vital for creating supportive living environments and reducing health inequalities.
Public health research presents compelling evidence that health is socially determined. To address structural inequalities and inequities in health, public policies require inter-sectoral development and implementation. National public health policy, Healthy Ireland (2013–2025), endorses an inter-sectoral, whole-of-system, approach to ensure that health is a central part of all relevant policy areas. HIAs are endorsed in this policy as one way to drive this agenda.
Current Focus: Cork City Development Plan
A key component of the HIA-IM project is its focus on the Cork City Development Plan. Specifically, the project examines the potential health impacts of Objective 2.10 of the strategy, which relates to safe and cohesive communities. The researchers identified several factors that are critical to achieving safe and cohesive communities:
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- Housing
- Neighbourhood design
- Access to public spaces
- Modes of travel
- Walkability
- Accessible workplaces
In addition, the project team is developing a Community Engagement Toolkit. The toolkit aims to enhance opportunities for meaningful community involvement in HIAs in Ireland, and strengthen the capacity of researchers, policy actors, practitioners, community members and the voluntary sector to collaboratively develop and implement fair policy responses to major population health issues.
The draft toolkit will be presented at the Irish Global Health Network conference in October 2024 and the European Public Health Conference in Lisbon in November 2024. A literature review on community participation in HIA is ongoing, with expected completion in October 2025.
Future Plans
The second HIA, focused on the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan, is scheduled to begin in early 2025.
Ireland has a unique opportunity to enhance HIA implementation, thanks to recent policy commitments such as the Healthy Ireland framework and the all-island Institute of Public Health HIA guidance. By building on these policies, HIA-IM seeks to create a more coordinated approach to health in all policies, ensuring that health equity is a key consideration in policy-making.
As we face global challenges like climate change, the need for health-proof public policies is more urgent than ever.
The HIA-IM project will help ensure that policies do not adversely impact health and wellbeing, especially for marginalised communities. Through this project, we hope to create a lasting impact on public health policy in Ireland and beyond.
‘Development of a Health Impact Assessment Implementation Model: Enhancing Intersectoral Approaches in Tackling Health Inequalities’ (acronym: HIA-IM) is funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) under the Emerging Investigator Award (EIA), 2023 to 2026.
Dr Monica O’Mullane holds this award as Principal Investigator, with team members involved in the project from across University College Cork (UCC), the Institute of Public Health Ireland, Cork Environmental Forum (CEF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cork City Council, the Health Services Executive (HSE), Public Health Wales, Ben Cave Associates Insight, University of Galway, University of Bradford, University of New South Wales, Trinity College Dublin and University of Strathclyde.
The HIA-IM Public Involvement Consultation Group includes members from Cork Environmental Forum, Cork Healthy Cities, Global Action Plan, Coalition 2030, Coast Watch Ireland, Global Health Ireland, Independent Living Group and Social Justice Ireland. The project is co-hosted in University College Cork between the School of Public Health and the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21).