title: Development of Guidelines for Health Impact Assessment in Southern Italy.
abstract: Health impact assessment (HIA) is a multidisciplinary method aimed at assessing the health effects of policies, plans, and projects using quantitative, qualitative, and participatory techniques. In many European countries, such as in Italy, there is a lack of implementation of HIA procedures and it would be necessary to develop instruments and protocols in order to improve the specific skills of professionals involved in the assessment process. This article aims to describe the development and implementation of HIA guidelines, promoted by the Italian National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS), in 4 Southern Italian regions. Public health search engine and institutional Web sites were consulted to collect international data existing in this field. Monthly workshops were then organized with regional representatives to discuss the scientific literature and to identify the guidelines' contents: source of data, stakeholders, screening- and scoping-phase checklist tools, priority areas, monitoring, and reporting plans. Four regions (Calabria, Campania, Puglia, and Sicilia) took part in the project. This article describes the methodology of development and implementation of HIA guidelines in the Italian context. The tools created to collect data and assess health consequences (such as screening and scoping grids) are reported. This project represents the first structured initiative proposed and supported by the Ministry of Health aiming to introduce HIA in Italy. HIA should be considered a priority in the public health agenda, as a fundamental instrument in helping decision makers to make choices about alternatives to prevent disease/injury and to actively promote health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Turin, Turin, Italy (Drs Bert, Gualano, and Siliquini); Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Hygiene and Public Health, Polytechnic University of the Marche Region, Torrette di Ancona, Italy (Dr Di Stanislao); National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS), Rome, Italy (Dr Tozzi); Regional Health Authority of Campania, Centro Direzionale Isola C3, Naples, Italy (Dr Pizzuti); Regional Health Authority of Calabria, Catanzaro, Italy (Dr Rizzo); Regional Health Authority of Sicily, Palermo, Italy (Dr Scondotto); and Regional Health Authority of Puglia, Bari, Italy (Dr Bux).
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bert
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Gualano
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Stanislao
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Siliquini
authors.forename: Quinto
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tozzi
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pizzuti
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scondotto
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bux
mesh_terms: D017408:Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D062489:Health Impact Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006291:Health Policy / Q000639:trends; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards