Andrew L. Dannenberg ^1*, Rajiv Bhatia ², Brian L. Cole ³, Carlos Dora ⁴, Jonathan E. Fielding ⁵, Katherine Kraft ⁶, Diane McClymont-Peace ⁷, Jennifer Mindell ⁸, Chinwe Onyekere ⁶, James A. Roberts ⁹, Catherine L. Ross ¹⁰, Candace D. Rutt ¹¹, Alex Scott-Samuel ¹², Hugh H. Tilson ¹³

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
² San Francisco Department of Public Health
³ UCLA
⁴ World Health Organization
⁵ Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
⁶ RWJF
⁷ Health Canada
⁸ London Health Observatory
⁹ Independent consultant
¹⁰ Georgia Tech
¹¹ CDC
¹² University of Liverpool, UK
¹³ UNC

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: acd7{at}cdc.gov.

	Abstract

Health impact assessment(HIA) methods are used to evaluate the impact on health of policies and projects in community design, transportation planning, and other areas outside traditional public health concerns. At an October 2004 workshop, domestic and international experts explored issues associated with advancing the use of HIA methods by local health departments, planning commissions, and other decisionmakers in the United States.

Workshop participants recommended conducting pilot tests of existing HIA tools, developing a database of health impacts of common projects and policies, developing resources for HIA use, building workforce capacity to conduct HIAs, and evaluating HIAs. HIA methods can influence decisionmakers to adjust policies and projects to maximize benefits and minimize harm to the public's health.

Key Words: Community Health, Environment, Epidemiology, Health Policy, Public Health Practice, Qualitative Research

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