Health in All Policies Working Group

Advancing HIA and HIA-like Initiatives: Demystifying HiAP

Leads/Contacts

Chair: Sandra Whitehead, PhD MPA Professor at the George Washington University, Sustainable Urban Planning Program SWhitehead@GWU.edu

Members: Jimmy Dills, Georgia Health Policy Center; Hannah Hardy, Allegheny County Department of Health; Judy Goforth-Parker, Chickasaw Nation; Alix Ware, National Association of County and City Health Officials; Abe Moland,  Clackamas County Health Department; Michelle Gowans, Jefferson County Health Department; Kerry Wyss, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.  

Current Activities

The WG will focus on the following activities in 2021-2022:

• Use the existing HiAP guide developed by previous working group to create a resource that arranges HIAP activities aimed at different audiences
• Explore case studies of national and international HiAP efforts and tell those stories
• Reach out to federal agencies regarding HIAP funding and support 
• Develop metrics for measuring accountability in HIAP and evaluating how well we delivered on impact (similar to equity metrics style document, performance metrics for MOUs, commissions, etc, guidelines or checklists for other sectors)

Objectives

The objective of this Working Group is to work collectively to identify barriers and solutions to implementing HIA/HiAP initiatives. This year, we seek to demystify HiAP practices by lifting up stories from HIA/HiAP practitioners. We will also be updating the HiAP Screening Tool and hosting at least one webinar.

Rationale

HIA is commonly used as a tool to implement an existing HIAP framework or as a way to begin a discussion about inserting health and equity into programs, projects, processes and policies (P4s). As the practice of HiAP expands, SOPHIA seeks to support that work and its practitioners.

History

This Working Group will build on the successes of the previous HiAP Working Groups (WGs). In 2012, the HiAP WG looked at the similarities and differences between HIA and HiAP, and in 2014 the WG developed the HiAP Screening Tool to help practitioners decide between HiAP-like approaches when HIA is not a good fit.