D3n Addressing health in SEA
Alan Bond, University of East Anglia, UK
Ben Cave, Ben Cave Associates, UK
Suphakij Nuntavorakarn, Health System Research Institute, Thailand
Carlos Dora, WHO, Geneva
Key issues to be addressed
Position Paper:
Since the 1974 Canadian Lalonde Report highlighted the impacts public policies could have on health, healthy public policy has been a main goal of health development and a driver for the development of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in many countries. It is clear that sustainability and health are inextricably linked: public policies which promote long-term sustainability promote health. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive came into force in July 2004 and is viewed by many as a tool for achieving sustainable development; it specifically requires the consideration of human health, which prompted the World Health Organization to publish guidance on integrating health into SEA
The interface between health and other sectors, however, is weak and healthy public policy requires the cross-sectoral application of health. A key question, therefore, is whether there exists the capacity to address health in SEA and, if it does not, how best that capacity can be built
The conference will examine the interface between health and SEA and ask:
• Is there case study evidence of the consideration of health in SEA or at the strategic level of public policy processes?
• Is there case study evidence of HIA that works at the strategic level of public policy processes?
• How can the appropriate health expertise become involved in the SEA process?
• Does the current momentum in development of both HIA and SEA mean that a policy window for integration is open?
• What models are available for integration?
Answering these questions will facilitate future planning for comprehensive coverage of health in SEA as a vehicle for achieving health public policy