POTENTIALS AND BENEFITS OF HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN COMMUNITIES

ABSTRACT

With the development of economy and society and the change of disease spectrum, the influence of social, natural environment, lifestyle and other factors on health becomes more and more prominent. In order to improve population health and promote health equity, health impact assessment came into being and gradually gained legal status in some countries, becoming an important institutional arrangement. The health impact assessment system has been enriched and improved in practice in many countries, and has become an effective policy tool to protect the health of citizens. Community is the foundation and support of a healthy city. Maintaining and promoting the health and wellbeing of community residents should be the starting point and end point of the community health impact assessment, which can promote cross-sectoral cooperation in health affairs, enhance communication, understanding and mutual trust, and promote health equity and the achievement of the development goals of Healthy Cities. It is also expected to play a constructive role in addressing the major health problems of the contemporary population and in achieving the goals of primary health care. As the largest developing country in the world, the changes in the health status of Chinese residents over the past decades are typical. With the establishment of the strategic goal of ‘Healthy China’, such concepts as ‘Health in All Policies’ and ‘establishing a health impact assessment system’ have become important guidelines of the Chinese government’s health work through legislation and have been continuously deepened in practice. With the help of the global information technology revolution, community health impact assessment will play a more active and important role in the national health care in the future, especially in the prevention and control of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and in the rehabilitation nursing of chronic non-communicable diseases. Thus, it will largely promote national health literacy and health level to new heights, and make positive contributions to the building of human health community. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ben Y.F. Fong and Martin C.S. Wong;individual chapters, the contributors.