Public Health Advisory Committee Secretariat

Policy-level health impact assessment (HIA) is a formal approach for assessing the impact of policies on health, wellbeing and equity. HIA is used by policymakers across government and by those who may be affected by policy. This paper outlines efforts to embed HIA in New Zealand, including development of an HIA guide for New Zealand, training to support its use and the promotion of HIA to key government agencies. It briefly presents three New Zealand HIA case studies. The paper reviews the uptake of HIA in New Zealand and identifies a range of factors (including awareness of the role and potential value of HIA, training in HIA, access to HIA expertise, political and managerial support for HIA, resourcing and statutory recognition) that influence whether agencies undertake HIA. The paper then discusses the future of HIA in New Zealand, identifying the need for legislation to encourage HIA, the value of embedding HIA in policy processes and the importance of a dedicated HIA support unit. The paper concludes that considerable progress has been made at this initial stage of embedding HIA and that the approach has an important contribution to make in strengthening health, wellbeing and equity in policymaking in New Zealand. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank all those involved in HIA training, research, practice and advice in New Zealand in recent years for their contribution to the development of HIA in New Zealand and to the story told in this paper