Conference calls for greater emphasis on health impact assessments

The declaration by 218 participants from 18 countries at the threeday conference that started on Wednesday stated all sides should take people's "health" - defined here as a state of balanced interrelation of physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects - as the centre and goal of development. They urged that sustainable development be concerned with the impacts on health of the formulation and implementation of projects, programmes and policies.

Participants said HIAs must be accepted as a tool for sustaining healthful public policies, enabling a social and physical environment that promoted a healthy lifestyle and offered policy options people can access. They also acknowledged that the level, processes and conditions of HIA development in the AsiaPacific were diverse, due to differences in socioeconomic and political structures, infrastructure development, pressures and opportunities from globalisation and freetrade agreements.

Besides calling for international financial institutions to use HIAs as a criterion for financing development projects, the declaration also said Asean should spearhead the establishment of a regional HIA coordination centre, in order to promote HIAs in its 10 member countries.

Participants reasoned that Asean already had an existing organisational structure, including a Secretariat and national parliaments, and so HIAs could be of great use in the Asean Vision 2020, in which Asian nations would live in peace, stability and prosperity.

They also encouraged an exchange of knowledge and collaborative research, especially on transboundary impacts on health and the social determinants of health, such as an international conference on the matter every two years.