To drive health equity into action we need to understand the needs of health disadvantaged populations, identify barriers to equitable access to quality care, and build equity into priority setting, resource allocation and performance management. We need a repertoire of effective equity-focused planning tools. HEIA is one key tool that analyzes the potential impact of service, program or policy changes on health disparities and/or health disadvantaged populations. It can help to plan new services, policy development or other initiatives, and assess and re-align existing programs.
HEIA arose out of broader health impact assessments, used in many jurisdictions during the last 15 years. HEIA tools are more recent in their development, reflecting increasing policy attention to social determinants of health and health disparities. This page provides links to leading jurisdictions, practitioners sites and other resources.
- Building Equity Into Health Impact Assessment
The American-based Prevention Institute made a presentation to recent National Research Council deliberations on HIA. They argued that HIA aligns well with primary prevention or upstream action on the roots of ill health and health disparities, and with healthy community planning approaches to addressing the underlying determinants of health. [...]
- Using Health Equity Impact Assessment Creatively: Local Mental Health Strategy
To drive health equity into practice we need to be able to identify the specific needs of health disadvantaged populations, key access barriers, and gaps in available services for these communities. Health Equity Impact Assessment is an effective planning tool that is increasingly being used within LHINs and in many other jurisdictions to build equity into service provision I recently presented a workshop to the Mental Health and Addictions Decision Support Working Group of the Toronto Central LHIN on how HEIA could be applied to developing quality improvement plans and indicators. [...]
- Health Equity Into Action Through Good Planning: Health Equity Impact Assessment
I recently presented a workshop to senior staff at a Toronto academic hospital on Health Equity Impact Assessment. We need good planning to operationalize equity within hospitals, community health centres and other service providers and HEIA is an effective planning tool. [...]
- Implementing Health Equity Impact Assessment
I recently spoke to the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group of the Central LHIN on the Health Equity Impact Assessment pilot project undertaken by The Wellesley Institute, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Toronto Central LHIN. Central has done some tremendous work integrating equity into their new strategic plan (Integrated Health Service Plan-2) and ongoing service planning. [...]
- Mental Well-Being Impact Assessment (MWIA)
HIAs can be adapted for specific purposes. Mental Well-Being Impact Assessment is a type of HIA that evaluates how well or how poorly public policy addresses community well-being. An important part of MWIA is developing indicators that can be used to measure impact on mental health. This Presentation provides a useful chart for examining various factors relating to mental health that may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by new policies and programs. It also contains an introduction to the differences between objective and subjective indicators and their role in MWIA.
- Engaging the Community in HIA
The Wellesley Institute promotes community engagement in various areas, as it is essential for effective reform of public policy. It is crucial that community engagement reflect the diversity of the population, including marginalized groups. HIA could benefit enormously from a community engagement component since the purpose of HIA is to consider how policies and programs impact the health of the community. [...]
- Devloping HEIA in Ontario
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Toronto Central LHIN developed a Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) tool designed to assist LHINs and health service providers in service planning. [...]
- Other International HIA Resources
- The National Collaborating Centres for Public Health in Québec put together a document of Guides And Tools on HIA. This is a fantastic resource that divides HIA tools into three categories: general guides and orientation documents, applied tools (focusing on specific sectors or themes) and general tools. [...]
- User Guides to Equity-Focused Impact Assessment
- Wales and New Zealand have led in developing and implementing focussed HEIA tools. New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has produced a user’s guide on HIA tools for evaluating current and future health impacts of policies, programs and interventions. [...]
- HIA Templates
Here are two tools from Wales and New Zealand that guide the assessment of potential health impacts of policies and programs on disadvantaged population groups: [...]
- Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) Resources
Addressing health disparities in health care service delivery and planning requires a solid understanding of key barriers to equitable access to high quality care and the specific needs of health-disadvantaged populations. And this requires an array of effective and practical planning tools. [...]
