Healthcare

Biography

Biography: Lindsay McCallum

Abstract

Health care is a broad term that includes the improvement or maintenance of health, not only through diagnosis and treatment, but also through prevention. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is defined by the World Health Organization as a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, programme or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population. HIA is an important component of preventative health care in its ability not only to identify and evaluate potential impacts (both positive and negative) on community health, but also in its capacity to affect change. When the results of an HIA suggest that there are potential community health impacts, recommendations are provided to promote beneficial outcomes and minimize negative outcomes. Although HIA is still considered an emerging field, it has been successfully applied in numerous jurisdictions around the world including Australia, the UK, Canada and the US. However, a more transparent, reproducible and systematic approach to HIA is needed. Recent developments in the field of HIA, including specific methodologies developed by the authors, are presented.