Koncepcja „Oceny wpływu na zdrowie” (Health Impact Assessment) i jej wykorzystywanie w Unii Europejskiej. Perspektywa sektora prywatnego

Concept of Health Impact Assessment and its application in European Union. Private sector dimensionAccording to the WHO definition Health Impact Assessment (HIA) refers to “procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, programme or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of the population and the distribution of those effects within the population”. HIA has emerged from weather forecasts and is founding much broader use. It helps to identify the factors, which have a potential impact on health. HIA may be relevant for all sectors to determine the effects, also unintentional, of their policies and actions on health and it has the potential to bring greater transparency to the decision-making process. Usually, it is very important to be able to foresee future health related effects, also by clarifying the nature of trade-offs in policy. Comparing and judging wanted and unwanted results is essential to choose a possibly best alternative and avoid harm. In European Union where modern tools to rationalize decision making process are broadly accepted HIA has been welcomed, at least in declarations. Although some approaches to assess actions targeted at environment have been formalized and are binding, but others, including HIA, still depend on good will of partners involved. Both member countries and institutions are a bit reserved to use HIA. Insufficient popularity of HIA may result from scarce educational opportunities but also from deficit in well grounded scientific evidence