- Complex social and policy problems require sophisticated planning tools and strategy
This is a presentation to the policy and management staff at the Canadian Mental Health Association — Ontario on how Health Equity Impact Assessment, Mental Health Wellbeing Assessment and others tools can be used to ensure mental health is embedded in health equity strategy — and equally important, that equity is embedded in mental health strategy.
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- Strategy, Ideas and Tools for the Midwifery Movement
Midwifery has played a transformative role within the healthcare system: not just in providing excellent care to many women, but in empowering women to be able to better control their overall reproductive and sexual lives. As well as being a innovative profession and crucial part of the spectrum of women-centred services, it has also always been part of a wider reproductive rights movement. [...]
- Equity-Focused Planning: Drilling Down in Psychiatry and Clarifying Our Conceptual Framework
One crucial component of ensuring more equitable health care is good planning, and one effective tool is Health Equity Impact Assessment. We just published two new primers on HEIA and Mental Well-being Impact Assessment and we have been presenting a number of workshops to providers and planners. [...]
- Mental Well-being Impact Assessment
Mental Well-being Impact Assessment
Nimira Lalani
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 effective and useable equity-focused planning tools. One problem with the way health impact assessment has evolved is that it doesn’t take mental health into account well enough. In response some very interesting work has been done in England and elsewhere on mental well-being impact assessment. Not only does this build mental health into the assessment but it also emphasizes equity and the wider social determinants of health. This new primer by Nimira Lalani analyzes the potential of MWIA.
- Health Equity Impact Assessment: A Primer
Health Equity Impact Assessment
Rebecca Haber
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. Health Equity Impact Assessment is a practical and effective planning 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 or initiatives or assess and re-align existing programs; and using it has proven valuable to building awareness of and embedding equity within organizations. This is an overview primer that introduces the potential and practice of HEIA. We also have many other resources on our page on equity-focused planning.
- UK group takes government to court over gender-biased budget
Wellesley does a great deal of work on building equity into policy and program development. One way to do this is through equity focused planning tools such as Health Equity Impact Assessment and gender-based analysis. In a recent example from the UK, a gender-based analysis of the coalition government’s emergency budget revealed that nearly three-quarters of the burden of budget cuts fall on women, while only a quarter affect men. [...]
- Health Equity Impact Assessment Into Action: Home Care
Equity-focussed planning is an essential ingredient of comprehensive health equity strategies. Ontario has been developing and implementing a Health Equity Impact Assessment model and Wellesley has presented a number of workshops on how to realize the potential of HEIA. Each of these workshops uses different case studies to work through the model, geared to the particular audience. [...]
- 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. [...]
- Driving Health Equity Into Action
I spoke at the Changing Face of Ontario conference organized by Across Boundaries, the Canadian Mental Health Association and other mental health organizations and networks. My workshop focused on developing comprehensive health equity strategies and priorities, putting them into practice through good planning and resource allocation, [...]
- 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. [...]
- 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. [...]
- Developing 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. [...]
