Which type of HIA?
There are essentially three types of HIA:
• prospective (conducted before a proposal is implemented)
• retrospective (conducted after implementation)
• concurrent (conducted during implementation).
A prospective HIA offers the opportunity to consider potential health impacts
before a policy is implemented – and thus make adjustments that will
maximise the beneficial effects and minimise any harmful effects on health.
Many organisations have found that by carrying out a retrospective HIA,
they have learned a great deal to guide them in the future development of
proposals – and have enlarged the evidence base for future HIAs.
The advantages of carrying out a concurrent HIA are that you can act
promptly to counter any negative effects associated with implementation
of the proposal, and that you can monitor the accuracy of predictions
about potential health impacts.