Health Impact Assessment - Essay Example

? Health Impact Assessment Health Impact Assessment (HIA) refers to an analysis and evaluation of health issues in a selected area. It mainly refers to use of different methods and programs to analyze the health and equity impacts of a place (Kemm, Parry & Palmer, 2004, 11). Thus, Health Impact Assessment involves application and use of different health policies. In addition, it also involves decision making issues that affect the health issues of the area being studied. HIA studies the availability of a number of factors in the society such as democracy, equity and sustainable development. Health Impact Assessment can therefore be defined as a combination of processes, procedures techniques and strategies by a program which aims at impacting the health of the population, and distributing such impacts to the whole population of the area. HIA has a lot of benefits to the whole individuals in the society. It greatly helps in developing the welfare of the society. HIA benefits the society by ensuring effective resource allocation in the community (Lauzie?re et al, 2011, 20). Thus, it greatly benefits the whole economy of the community being studied. In addition, the study ensures that there is strategic community planning leading to overall community development. With HIA, the standards of living of individuals in the society improve and grow to a higher level due to better health. Thus, development is the key benefit of HIA to the community. People live better lives both in terms of their economy and health. Health costs incurred can also fall because, the health of people will have developed and people will not incur unnecessary health expenses. The community is also able to develop sustainable approaches and initiatives through Health Impact Assessment. People are able to diversify themselves by engaging in different areas of community development. However, HIA also has a number of drawbacks. For instance, the process may be very costly and expensive due to the many procedures that may be involved. Thus, a lot of funds may be incurred in order to bring out the right results. In addition, the procedure of health impact assessment may also be ineffective if poorly undertaken by the officials involved. Thus, it may lead to a loss in the funds committed if the right precautions are not keenly taken. Government rules and regulations may also bring a great hindrance to the way in which the procedure attains its goals and objectives. Thus, this may be a drawback since; it will imply that all goals may not be achieved due to government interference (British Medical Association, 1998, 32). PROFILE The set up of this community will affect different categories of individuals differently in the society. The key stakeholders who will be affected in the community will the youth of the community and key food providers. This is because; the community is made up of a large number of youth in the community who will greatly benefit from the new houses that will be built. Young persons who have found it difficult to secure housing around the village due to the high costs will also greatly benefit from the new project being implemented in the area. Other key stakeholders will be fishermen in the area. This is because; since the main economic activity of the area is fishing, then the income from the fishermen accounts for most of the village’s total incomes. The part-time doctor and chemist will also be vital stakeholders in the HIA because; they are also greatly involved in the overall health matters of the village. Important information that will greatly assist for the whole undertaking will mainly be obtained from the individuals who have been in the area for a long time. This is because; such persons will be able to give their own opinions concerning the effect of building houses in the area. However, information obtained this way might very misleading since; there are very few persons who have been in the village for a long time. In addition, some people may not give true or honest opinions because; they may be planning to vacate the village in future. Thus, administering of questionnaires may be the effective method to use in order to seek every person’s opinion about the project being undertaken. The key reason as to why each individual’s opinion should be sought is because; the project will affect different people differently. While some individuals will see the project as improving the standards of living in the area, others will view it a costly and unnecessary investment. In addition, people with a housing problem will definitely support the project more than people who already have houses. Other persons will also think that the houses will increase congestion in the area since; a larger number of people will have obtained houses and settled down (Greenberg, Krueckeberg & Michaelson, 2008, 13). Professional persons such as the doctor and chemist will also be key informants of the program since; they will be able to give experienced and proficient opinions about the undertaking of the projects. The local authority could also give important information concerning the project. This is because; it is the local authorities that will mainly affect the undertaking through their rules and regulations. The local authorities will also be able to give the impact of the project on the overall economy of the project. The economy of the area could be positively or negatively affected depending on the general effects obtained. These authorities are in better positions to assess the performance of the economy since; they are well acquitted with information about the previous performance of the economy (Breuer, 1999, 15). The qualitative method is the one that will be applied since; the project cannot be assessed on the basis of the number of people supporting it or those against it. However, the project will mainly be assessed based on the benefits being derived from its implementation. Therefore, the quantitative method will only be applied in terms of the benefits, but not in terms of the number of persons supporting it. However, the qualitative method will be applied all through because; the implementation of the project will greatly depend on the quality of the arguments that will be given by the community. The quality of the arguments that will be given is the key issue that will determine the final decision that will be made. Thus, information being obtained from the public will be mainly obtained by use of the qualitative method (Breuer, 1999, 17). EVALUATION The major impact of the project will be on the standards of living of the individuals in the area (Turnbull, World Health Organization, & University of Aberdeen, 1992, 13). Individuals who are homeless will be able to secure houses where they can stay at a cheaper cost. Lack of housing affects the economy of area negatively because; individuals who do not have houses are not in a position to participate fully in building the economy of the area. People become filled with the fear of purchasing assets since; they have nowhere to keep them. For instance, in the case of the village, some people may be unable to participate in the fishing activity due to lack of houses. Thus, this may also be one of the possible causes of the collapse of the fishing industry. Therefore, provision of housing to the area will greatly influence the way in which people participate in developing their economy. This implies that; the employment sector will be greatly influenced (In Lineberry, 1962, 13). With the provision of the houses, the number of persons living in the village will greatly increase. This is because; people will be attracted to live in the area. Thus, it is likely that people from other areas might even migrate to live in the village (Urban Land Institute & Gruen Gruen & Associates, 2007, 26). An increase in population will consequently lead to an increase in the market demand. As the market demand increase, the business opportunities in the village will also increase as individuals seek to satisfy the increased demand. Therefore, unemployment in the village will reduce since; people will be engaged in different activities such as food production, fishing, and service provision. For instance, the single convenience store may not be able to satisfy the demand of the increased population. Thus, other unemployed persons may start more convenience stores to meet the demand. This will also apply to the butcher whereby, the single butcher may not be able to meet the needs of all the people in the village. Therefore, other people may see it as an opportunity to start their own butcheries. Therefore, the project will reduce unemployment in the area significantly. However, the health of the village might be negatively affected (Greenberg, Krueckeberg, & Michaelson, 2008, 14). This is because; the single hospital might not be able to provide sufficient services to all people living in the village. While other businesses such as butcheries will be easily added in the area, it may be not easy to add another hospital in the village. This is because; there might not be other individuals with a medicine profession in the area. In addition, starting another hospital may be very costly thus, adding up to the costs of the project. Increase in the number persons in the area will also be very crucial since; it will cause an increase in the waste products in the village. Increase in the number of people in a small area always implies more health problems since; the dumpsites increase in the area, and congestion cases also become rampant (Bachmann, 2006, 27). If currently the narrow roads normally become congested during the summer, then the congestion will be even more when the population in the area increases. This will lead to overutilization of the health facilities in the area since; persons will be competing for the same few facilities. This will especially be an issue in the case of the recreation facilities. This is due to the fact that; individuals will be fighting for the limited recreation areas that are available in the village. The beaches and coast walks will be filled beyond capacity when the population in the village increases (Vanclay & Bronstein, 2005, 12). This may even lead to dumping of waste in the ocean thus, leading to further collapse of the fishing industry. Although individuals may take advantage of the congestion and start up small businesses along the beaches and coastal walks, the disadvantages in this case will definitely be more than the benefits. The same case will also apply to the social amenities to the area whereby, amenities will be insufficient leading to unhealthy effects in the village. If no immediate action is taken, the long term effects of the problem will be that the village may even end up being struck by diseases such as cholera. Therefore, the project will have vast effect on the health of the whole village, both directly and indirectly (Lundqvist, 2006, 34). Safety may also be an issue that will require close attention before the implementation of the project (Thompson, Vera Institute of Justice & National Institute of Justice (U.S.), 2002, 25). This is because; increased population in the village will definitely imply that there will be increased insecurity because of the congestion in the area. With the increased number of people that will require management and control, the local authorities may find it hard to offer quality services to the people. Thus, some people will take advantage of this weakness and steal from the others. A high population in the area will also imply that there will more idle people who will engage in stealing from the rest of the people (Turnbull, World Health Organization, & University of Aberdeen, 1992. 13). The economy of the village will also be performing well since; many people will join the business sector. This will imply that; the per capita income of the village will increase drastically. Consequently, people will be attracted to steal more from the newly started businesses. Congestion on the roads will also imply that there will be an increase in the number of pick-pockets around the street. The increased population will also cause increased congestion of the transport sector. This is because; the “A” roads may not be sufficient to support the increased demand from transport services. Increase in the businesses will imply that people will demand transport services to transport their business commodities (Tatge, 2011, 24). In addition, individuals will also want to travel to other places. Thus, the roads will definitely be filled and congested with many vehicles. This problem may also be caused by the fact that; with increased per capita income people will purchase more cars of their own thus, leading to reduced use of public means of transport (Rodgers, Hopkins & We?ry, 2008, 16). Thus, the increase in the population of vehicles will lead to poor transportation services. Increased vehicles will also lead to increased pollution which will have grave effects on the health of the people in the village. The smoke emitted by the many vehicles will affect the quality of air inhaled by the people (Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2010, 18). Thus, this will lead to poor health. Therefore, it is clear that although the social capital of the whole community will increase, it will be accompanied by some negative effects. The social capital may also be negatively affected since; a lot of funds will have to be committed to the project. Although the project will be very beneficial to the whole society in the long term, it cannot be ignored that the funds that will be used will be very high. Some of the people in the village may reason in the sense that; these funds could be committed in other projects such as building of industries, or starting up of businesses. CONCLUSION The project that is to be started in the village will definitely have positive benefits to the whole village. Although the project will require a large amount of money to be used, it will lead to a greater growth of the whole economy. This is because; once the homeless people have secured houses where they can live in, they will be able to concentrate on building of the whole economy (Housing Industry Association, & Standards Association of Australia, 2004, 26). This will lead to a reduction of the number of unemployed persons in the economy. On the other hand; reduced unemployment leads to a higher economic growth. Therefore, in my opinion, the project should progress but there should be some modifications that should be undertaken in order to increase the benefits while reducing the costs (Haugen & Musser, 2011, 24). For instance, the local authorities should check on the problem of unemployment among the youth in the area. This is because; although new houses may be built, people will not be able to pay the rental costs when they are unemployed. Therefore, employment opportunities should be created first in order to create income for persons. People will then be able to afford the houses that will be built. The medical sector will also need some modifications if the drawbacks are to be reduced while increasing the benefits (Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm), Films Media Group & TVOntario, 2005, 11). This will be through increasing the available medical facilities such that, they will be able to accommodate an increase in the population. Social amenities such as the recreation facilities and security services should also be increased so that, an increased in the population will not lead to increased stress on the facilities (Lundqvist, 2006, 32). Other modifications that may be of key importance to aid in increasing the benefits accruing from the projects include improvement of the transport sector to reduce the congestion of vehicles. Therefore, the project should indeed be implemented in the village since; this will help to solve the problem of housing in the area. However, the project will only be more beneficial if the above mentioned modifications are undertaken. REFERENCES Bachmann, T. M. 2006. Hazardous substances and human health: Exposure impact and external cost assessment at the European scale. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Breuer, D. 1999. Monitoring ambient air quality for health impact assessment. Copenhagen: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe. British Medical Association 1998. Health & environmental impact assessment: An integrated approach. London: Earthscan. In Lineberry, W. P. 1962 The challenge of full employment. 1962. New York: H.W. Wilson Co. 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