Health Impact Assessment of Rural Development: a Guide
The Scottish Directors of Public Health are very pleased to endorse this new Guide to Health Impact Assessment of Rural Development, produced by the Scottish Health and Inequalities Impact Assessment Network. The Scottish Health and Inequalities Impact Assessment Network (SHIIAN) brings together experts in different aspects of public health from across the country. The network supports the Scottish Directors of Public Health and the advice that it provides is recognised and valued across Scotland and internationally. All Directors of Public Health have rural areas within their populations and we are committed to putting the learning from this report into practice with you.
All forms of development may affect health. Some of these impacts may be different, or more significant, for development in rural rather than urban areas. As well as health effects arising from sector - specific hazards, there may be impacts on psychosocial wellbeing, social capital, employment and economic impacts, loss of amenity and pressures on local infrastructure and services. The guide considers the rural context in Scotland and focuses on these impacts that may be common to different development sectors. It provides evidence and key questions to inform health impact assessment and other partnership work seeking to improve health impacts of development in rural settings.
The guide is available on the resources page of the Scottish Public Health Network website at: http://www.scotphn.net/pdf/2015_05_28_SHIIAN_Final_Report.pdf
