Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Program (NUPAO)

AZ Healthy Communities

Making the healthy choice the easy choice.

Where you live impacts your health, and Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has recognized this connection. Working collaboratively with outside agencies, ADHS plans to help foster environments that support healthy behavior, such as biking and walking.

The purpose of AZ Healthy Communities is to link and support Arizona communities that are using, or are interested in using, collaborative approaches to healthy community planning and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. AZ Healthy Communities strives to increase neighborhoods that promote healthier lifestyles, increase evidence on the effectiveness of innovative healthy community planning, and decrease health and social inequities by focusing on the influence of where we live.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) | Design | Transportation | Accessibility | Arizona Examples

Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Expanding Health Impact Assessment Practice in Arizona

Two Health Impact Assessment (HIA) trainings will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. These trainings are provided by Health in Policy and Practice (HIP²) at no cost to you. For questions and concerns, please contact Steve White from Oregon Public Health Institute at: steve@orphi.org.

1. Full-day workshop - May 31st from 8:30 - 4:30PM
   Participants of this training will gain a thorough understanding of the value of conducting an HIA and the most appropriate situations when to engage in an HIA. Additionally, attendees will participate in hands-on exercises that will present the opportunity to gain experience in performing the various steps of an HIA as well as work with local leaders in the field of public health.
   Cost: This workshop is provided by HIP², at no cost to you.
   Location: Flinn Foundation, 1802 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ.
   Draft Agenda
   Register Online
2. Half-day seminar - June 13th from 1:00 - 5:00 PM
   Participants of this training will gain an improved understanding of the value of conducting an HIA, the most appropriate situations when to engage in an HIA and the current state of the practice. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to consider whether an HIA would be an appropriate tool for current projects or policies as well as connect with local leaders in the field of public health.
   Cost: This workshop is provided by HIP², at no cost to you.
   Location: Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ.
   Draft Agenda
   Register Online

Hosted by: Health in Policy and Practice (HIP²). Through education, collaboration, information sharing, and partnership development, the HIP² team's mission is to empower organizations and communities to integrate healthy community design into decision making. HIP² is a collaboration of multiple stakeholders to advance the practice of Health Impact Assessments. These stakeholders include the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH), and are supported by St. Luke's Health Initiative and the Health Impact Project. This collaboration will be working with local and national HIA practitioners to improve the health of Arizona communities through the development of a robust and sustainable HIA practice in Arizona.

Lead Trainer: Steve White leads Oregon Public Health Institute's (OPHI) HIA Initiative. Steve has lead and participated in numerous HIAs, and has conducted trainings and workshops for numerous groups across the country. More information about Steve and OPHIs HIA work can be found at the Oregon Public Health Institute website.

Developing an HIA

Health Impact Assessments (HIA) are a data-driven tool used to assess the potential health impact a policy, procedure or program may have. During an HIA process, public and private sector partners come together to understand health consequences, mitigations for these potential consequences, and to ensure the voice of the community is recognized throughout the HIA process. HIAs have been used to address the impacts of a variety of policies and programs, including transportation, urban development, and zoning policies. Developing an HIA is a six-step process:

1. Screening: Determines whether an HIA is necessary, feasible and likely to impact the decision making process for a specific policy or program.
2. Scoping: Identifies the focus of the HIA and the health effects it should highlight.
3. Assessment: Describes the baseline health of a community and predicts potential health impacts of a policy. Multiple research methods are used in this stage, such as literature review, qualitative and quantitative methods and cost-benefit analysis. The assessment is based on solely science and is impartial.
4. Recommendations: Provides recommendations to the decision-making body that will mitigate negative health consequences and highlight specific actions for who is to implement and monitor each recommendation.
5. Reporting: Disseminates findings to stakeholders, decision makers and community. The resulting product is a report, and a request to the public for feedback.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuously monitors and evaluates the HIA's process, impacts and outcomes. Indicators are used throughout the HIA process, decision making process, and to track resulting health outcomes.

Resources

• Screening Criteria Checklist
  This checklist, created by Change Lab Solutions, provides guidance for identifying whether a HIA would benefit a policy, project or program decision. This screening checklist describes a two-step process; first, potential HIAs should be screened first at the Tier 1 level, followed by screening at the Tier 2 level. This process provides a detailed analysis of a whether a HIA is deemed feasible and appropriate.
• Human Impact Partners
  Human Impact Partner's goal is to transform the policies and places people need to live healthy lives.
• Health Impact Project
  Promotes the use of Health Impact Assessments as policy making tools, provides research and data, and provides technical assistance to those doing HIAs. Health Impact Project is in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust.
• WHO Health Impact Assessment
  Supplies basic information on HIAs along with examples across all sectors, tools, and evidence to support HIA use.
• Active Living Research
  A national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, providing research assessment tools, research, webinars and reports on healthy community topics, such as access to parks, active transportation (such as biking and walking), air quality and urban design.