The concept of health used in HIA encompasses all aspects of physical, mental, and social health, including self-reported wellbeing, and considering positive health as well as the absence of illness.

1. Basic Concepts of Health
Impact Assessment
By:
Ojo Sunday

2. Introduction
• The concept of health used in HIA encompasses all
aspects of physical, mental, and social health, including
self-reported wellbeing, and considering positive health
as well as the absence of illness.

3. The Concept of HIA in the Mining Industry is based on a
more medical model of health and considers health impacts
in five main disease categories:
i. Communicable Disease
ii. Non-communicable Disease
iii. Nutrition
iv. Injury
v. Mental Disorder.

4. Approaches to Health Impact Assessment
1. Quantitative
2. Participatory
3. Procedural

5. Levels of Health Impact Assessment
• The HIA methodology can be used at different depths of
assessment that require various resource inputs.
• The level of assessment chosen depends on the context,
time available, purpose of the HIA, and available
resources. Three levels of HIA are:
i. Rapid
ii. Intermediate
iii. Comprehensive

6. 1. Rapid
• Provides a broad overview of possible health impacts.
• Could be used at early policy development stage or where
limited time/resources are available.
• Involves collecting and analysing existing data and
researching previous HIAs.
• Usually carried out quickly (approximately 2-6 weeks),
and with relatively minimal resources.

7. 2. Intermediate
• Provides more detailed information of possible health
impacts.
• Most frequent HIA approach applied.
• Allows more thorough investigation of health impacts,
increases reliability of impacts.
• Involves reviewing available evidence and any similar
HIAs and collecting and analysing new data.
• Lasts approximately 12 weeks.

8. 3. Comprehensive
• Provides comprehensive assessment of potential health
impacts.
• Most robust definition of impacts, but least frequently
used – the ‘Gold Standard’ of HIAs.
• Involves a review of available evidence and any similar
HIAs.
• Involves collecting and analysing new data using
multiple methods and sources (quantitative and
qualitative data including stakeholders’ opinions)

9. Health Impact Assessment and Environmental
Impact Assessment in the Mining Industry
• HIA is analogous with EIA in the sense
that they share similar methodological steps.
• While usually, EIAs do consider health impacts of a
mining project, this is rarely done explicitly and with no
input from public health experts.

10. • Also, there is often a purely toxicological and illness-
focused conceptualization of health and an emphasis on
mitigating harmful risks
• Hence there seems to be a need in EIA to take a more
systematic view and use a more inclusive model of
Health Impact Assessment in the Mining industry.

11. The following are some of the information HIA can add
to EIA
Health Influence (often part of
EIS)
Information that can be added by
HIA
Air–criteria pollutants • Baseline prevalence of relevant
diseases
• Local concerns
• Impact pathways, susceptibility
analysis, cumulative factors
Water–metals, organics, and
microbial pollution
• Baseline prevalence of relevant
diseases. Local concerns/
traditional environmental
knowledge
• Often discussion of potential
impacts: what discharges are
expected, what health effects
do they cause, what are the
pathways through which they
might spread to people?

12. • Impact pathways, diet/subsistence
practices, cumulative factors.
• Incorporation of Health Risk
Assessment (HRA) approach
Noise • Baseline prevalence of relevant
diseases
• Local concerns/traditional
environmental knowledge
• Identify vulnerable populations (e.
g. schools, hospitals), locations
relevant to sources (truck traffic,
operations equipment)
• Mitigations: sound walls and
housing modifications, truck
routes, hours of operation

13. Demographic change–for
example, influx of non-resident
workers
• Potential impact pathways:
• Infectious disease
Economy–revenues and costs • Service needs –education,
water/sanitation, public safety,
clinics/ hospitals, emergency
medical services.
• Change in demands/length of
hospital, emergency services,
police, fire

14. CONCLUSION
• Mining is extremely important to the economy of any
nation and a major contributor to the GDP
• Mining sector is also one of the major sources of
employment of any nation
• However, there are many adverse health effects of
various activities of mining, which EIA might not be
able to capture
• Thus the need for HIA for any mining project which
will help to solve these health challenges in the sector
by enhancing these positive health impacts while
mitigating the negative health impacts.

15. • Not much advantages have been taken yet of HIA as a
tool for sustainable development in the mining sector
• There is therefore needs for countries especially
developing ones to explore the opportunities for
evolving HIA system.