Question
| Please notice that this assignment is related to the first assignment which I have attached. So please follow the instructions attached perfectly with this initial assignment in mind. You will find that I have attached a video that provides more information and explanation. In addition, I’ve also attached some PDF files that you need to refer to while writing the Health Impact Assessment. |
Answer
Health Impact Assessment: Bunbury Outer Ring Road
Name
Institution
Contents
Health Impact Assessment: Bunbury Outer Ring Road
Introduction
This proposal offers a health impact assessment (HIA) of the proposed Bunbury Outer Ring Road in Western Australia. Roads are important mode of transport as they help to connect places easily without the requirement to build ports as is the case in air transport, rail transport, and water transport. The proposed Bunbury Outer Ring Road is aimed at reducing congestion, improving safety, and providing an efficient freight route for road users in Western Australia. The proposal will thus analyze the HIA of the project by critically examining stakeholder collaboration, screening, scoping, profiling, assessment, recommendations, as well as implementing evaluation and monitoring procedures. The overall aim of the report is to examine the health effects of the proposed project and make recommendations for enhancement of efficiency.
Stakeholder Collaboration
The success of any project is dependent on the level of collaboration between stakeholders (Kjellstrom & Van Kerkhoff, 2003). The Bunbury Outer Ring Road is an important project for the people of Western Australia as it will help in the reduction of congestion and safety issues that are currently being experienced Forrest Highway, Robertson Drive, and Bussell Highway. It will also help in improving access by road freight to Bunbury Port. The truckers will no longer have to go through four roundabouts while at the same time competing with the commuter traffic. The bypass road will also support planning for pedestrians and cyclists.
The benefits that will be accrued after the completion of the road project require stakeholder collaboration during the implementation part so that it is completed successfully. The project thus requires stakeholder collaboration with the main stakeholder in the project being the community, local government officers, Department of Planning, Department of Environmental and Conservation, and the Department of Water. Other stakeholders involved include the Bunbury City Council, freight industry representative, Dardanup Shire Council, and South West Environment Center. To come up with a comprehensive HIA report, I will consult and hold meetings with the mentioned stakeholder. Of particular interest will be the community and the environmental authorities who will provide a lot of insights concerning the project based on the impact it will have on the environment. The Department of planning will provide the overall plan for the construction project. This is important as it would help in a detailed assessment of the health impact that it will most likely have to the community. Local government officers and the Bunbury City Council are responsible for developing policies. Their opinion on the project will also be valuable in determining the health impacts that the project will have on the community (Tamburrini, Gilhuly, & Harris-Roxas, 2011). Community groups will be given the opportunity to give out their opinions on what they feel about the project. The input of all the stakeholders will contribute towards a comprehensive health information assessment.
Screening
HIA screening is important to any project as it help in the determination of whether the assessment will be important to the process of decision-making. The screening process will encompass organizing meetings with all the key stakeholders, residents who will be impacted, as well as the key decision-makers (Mindell et al., 2004). The screening will be done through guidance from a checklist screening criteria.
An examination of the proposed project reveals that there will be an increment of traffic since the proposed road will be a four lane road that will be dedicated to serving traffic population that does not need to go to the city center. The area where the proposed project is going to pass though will experience a lot of emissions due to the increased traffic. While the Environmental Protection Agency report focuses on the potential impact that the project is likely to have on the environment such as noise and traffic. It fails to extend its report to the effects that the increased emissions would have on the community such as cases of asthma and other health issues that may affect the community (Harris & Spickett, 2011). The HIA screening wills thus help to bring to the fore the community concerns about the likelihood of increased emissions that will affect their health. The health concerns will thus be incorporated into the decision making process.
The HIA will inform the construction as well as the development of the proposed project so as to provide an opportunity for the implementation of the recommendations that have been proposed through the report (Harris-Roxas & Harris, 2011). The information that will be provided by the HIA report would be helpful to the stakeholders as they will be able to meaningfully engage in the planning and decision-making process.
HIA has the potential to lead into systemic as well as institutional changes that will help in the promotion of better health outcomes to all people in the community (Winkler et al., 2013). The assessment is thus important because it will help in promoting the use of HIA in further projects so as to determine the health impacts of a project in Western Australia. Future transport decisions would incorporate the use HIA to determine the health impacts that a project will have on the community.
Conducting a HIA will also help in the promotion of better clarity for the project. There will also be transparency in the decisions that will be made because they will reflect the contributions of the major stakeholders (Briggs, 2008). The impacts that will be determined will have a potential of occurring hence the recommendations made will be useful in averting them (Parry & Stevens, 2001). The impacts are a true reflection because of the assessment that has been conducted. At the end of screening, there will be a determination of how HIA fits in the overall planning process.
Scoping
The HIA scope helps in the determination of the health impacts that should be explored. It also provides a method of analysis as well as a work plan that will be effective in the implementation of HIA. Under scoping, several things are considered that include: the potential health impacts that will be analyzed, the population that will be affected by the construction of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road, the people that will be incorporated in the HIA process as well as the socioeconomic and health characteristics of the population that is around the project area. The scoping step also explores the research questions to be answered as well as data and methodology to be used in answering the questions. Under this step, there will be an exploration of the communication methods that will be used to share information with other stakeholder of the road construction project (Barnes & Scott-Samuel, 2003). The scoping process will also provide a way in which the information collected will be evaluated.
In the conclusion part of the scoping, there will be a proposal of team members as well as the roles that they will perform in the HIA team. The health impacts of the project can also be presented in a diagram. The diagram allows for the audience to have a summarized view of literature concerning the HIA as well as a summary of expert opining. The time plan for conducting all the activities as well as their deadlines will also be provided under this section. When examined through the lens of the proposed project, the potential health impacts for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road would include increased accessibility to transport, employment opportunities, increased efficiency in freight transport, as well as social health impacts. The health concerns will include the spread of respiratory diseases as a result of poor air quality, increased obesity as a result of inactivity due to use of car transport, as well as occurrence of accidents (Kunzli et al., 2000).
Profiling
The profiling stage involves providing information about the community that live in the area or will be affected by the project. In this case, the profiling will involve the examination of the health profile of Western Australia where the project will be undertaken. Profiling will involve investigation of motor vehicle accidents to establish injuries and fatalities. Investigation of health profile will also involve a look at physical activity and potential diseases such as obesity, overweight, diabetes as well as other ailments (Mueller et al., 2015). Under the profiling section, all the health information about the community in the areas is critically analyzed to establish the health patterns based on the age groups of the people. The profiling helps in determining the current state of health of the population as well as the most occurring diseases. A profile of the people of Western Australia might reveal that most of the population in the areas is obese due to inactivity. The community might also register increased cases of asthma due to decreased air quality. The people of the community are highly dependent on vehicles as opposed to walking or cycling that help in burning calories (World Health Organization, 2006). The profile segment thus discusses al the possible health related information that affects the community that has been identified based on the project.
Assessment
Assessment represents the process of actual analysis, where there is a consideration of potential health impacts on a given population. Population has the potential of taking many forms based on the subject that is being investigated by HIA. Under assessment, there are a number of considerations that are explored that include an analysis of literature and data that has been availed (Adler & Newman, 2002). The analysis is aimed at suggesting the likelihood of the occurrence of a health concern amongst the identified community. In this case, the construction of a Bunbury bypass road poses health concerns to the surrounding community. The most probable health concern is the occurrence of asthma cases due to increased air pollution as a result of an increase in traffic that was not previously being experienced in the area (Tainio et al., 2016). The increased traffic emits gases that pollute the air hence result in asthma. The assessment part also involved the examination of both the severity and the magnitude of the impact. HIA looks at the current health situation and then determines the impact of a health outcome on the population (Dutta, Sinha, & De, 2000). The assessment looks at both the positive and negative health outcomes as a result of a project.
At the assessment stage, it is also important to include exert opinion from people who are knowledgeable in the health impact that has been identified and is being examined. The experts will provide insights about the policy, plans as well as the analysis of the program. The expert opinion helps to expand knowledge on a health impact that has been identified and is being discussed (Crespo, 2000). Alternatives for addressing the potential health impact are also addressed as part of the HIA. For example, if the health impact identified in asthma, multiple alternatives for addressing the health impact would include introducing regulations on emissions, encouraging the use of alternative means of transport, or encouraging the use of electric cars. Therefore the assessment part is concerned with the how the health status of the population is likely to be affected.
Recommendations
In the recommendations section, I will identify the actions that can be embraced to help limit the negative impacts of the project and at the same time to maximize the positive outcomes. For example, in the project on Bunbury Outer Ring Road, I would recommend that the road designers include cycling and pedestrian pathways that will encourage physical activity. The pathways will reduce inactivity hence obesity (Wener & Evans, 2007). A the same time, the inclusion of the pathways will encourage people to use bicycles, jog, or run hence increasing physical activity that leads to better health outcomes.
The recommendations developed will work at the community level. They will also be within the government policy framework so that they can be legally adapted. The recommendations will also include the development of a health management plan that will have indicators for monitoring breakdowns (National Research Council, 2011). At the conclusion part, I will mention my most preferred alternative among the many that I will have provided.
Evaluation and Monitoring
The evaluation and monitoring is the final stage of the HIA. It will be composed of three steps of evaluation that include process, impact, and outcome evaluation. Monitoring will involve the tracking of adoption as well as implementation of alternatives that had been suggested at the recommendation stage (National Research Council, 2011). Process evaluation is done to determine ways in which the process can be improved. Impact evaluation establishes whether the HIA informed the decision-making process. Lastly, outcome evaluation examines the impact of the implementation of the recommendations.
References
Adler, N. E., & Newman, K. (2002). Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health affairs, 21(2), 60-76.
Barnes, R., & Scott-Samuel, A. (2002). Health impact assessment and inequalities. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 11(5-6), 449-453.
Briggs, D. (2008).A framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment of systemic risks. Environmental Health, 7(61), 857-869.
Crespo, C. J. (2000). Encouraging physical activity in minorities: eliminating disparities by 2010. The Physician and sportsmedicine, 28(10), 36-51.
Dutta, P., Sinha, S., & De, P. (2000). Health impact assessment of development projects. Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, 20(4), 247-251.
Harris, P., & Spickett, J. (2011). Health impact assessment in Australia: a review and directions for progress. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 31(4), 425-432.
Harris-Roxas, B., & Harris, E. (2011). Differing forms, differing purposes: A typology of health impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 31(4), 396-403.
Kjellstrom, T., & Van Kerkhoff, L. (2003). Comparative assessment of transport risks — how it can contribute to health impact assessment of transport policies. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 81(6), 105-119.
Kunzli, N., Kaiser, R., Medina, S., & Studnicka, M. (2000). Public-health impact of outdoor and traffic-related air pollution: a European assessment. The Lancet, 356(9232), 795.
Mindell, J., Boaz, A., Joffe, M., Curtis, S., & Birley, M. (2004). Enhancing the evidence base for health impact assessment. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 58(7), 546-551.
Mueller, N., Rojas-Rueda, D., Cole-Hunter, T., de Nazelle, A., Dons, E., Gerike, R., … & Nieuwenhuijsen, M. (2015). Health impact assessment of active transportation: a systematic review. Preventive medicine, 76, 103-114.
National Research Council. (2011). Improving health in the United States: the role of health impact assessment. National Academies Press.
Parry, J., & Stevens, A. (2001). Prospective health impact assessment: pitfalls, problems, and possible ways forward. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 323(7322), 1177.
Tainio, M., de Nazelle, A. J., Götschi, T., Kahlmeier, S., Rojas-Rueda, D., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., & Woodcock, J. (2016). Can air pollution negate the health benefits of cycling and walking?. Preventive Medicine, 87, 233-236.
Tamburrini, A. L., Gilhuly, K., & Harris-Roxas, B. (2011). Enhancing benefits in health impact assessment through stakeholder consultation. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 29(3), 195-204.
Wener, R. E., & Evans, G. W. (2007). A morning stroll: levels of physical activity in car and mass transit commuting. Environment and Behavior, 39(1), 62-74.
Winkler, M. S., Krieger, G. R., Divall, M. J., Cissé, G., Wielga, M., Singer, B. H., & Utzinger, J. (2013). Untapped potential of health impact assessment. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 91(4), 298-305.
World Health Organization. (2006). The world health report 2006: working together for health. World Health Organization.
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