Health in All Policies (HiAP) in Staffordshire One Minute Guide
What is it?
Health in All Policies (HIAP) is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘an approach to public policies across sectors that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts in order to improve population health and health equity.”
Put simply, HIAP is about considering the (positive and negative) health impacts of policies, programmes, or decisions. It also aims to tackle health inequities. This approach then seeks to identify solutions to maximise positive and minimise negative impacts.
HIAP recognises the importance of many external factors on health outcomes and health needs. These factors are sometimes known as the ‘wider determinants of health’ and include things like transport, housing, employment, income, education, deprivation, and the environment. Often these factors are controlled by policies and actions outside the health sector.
Our health is about much more than good healthcare services. It is affected by our lifestyle and behaviours (such as smoking), our circumstances (such as education and housing) and our environment (like access to green spaces and transport).
HIAP can be used to maximise the health impacts of local government policy. This might include things like:
- Better walking and cycling routes to promote ‘active travel’
- Safe and easy access to green, open spaces to promote mental wellbeing
- Housing development that ensures warm homes and reduced social isolation.
Often taking a HIAP approach doesn’t require any extra work. It can be part of what we do in our roles every day. In local government, we already have many of the policy levers which can make a big difference (such as a health and wellbeing policy framework in a Local Plan, or consideration of alcohol-related harm in licensing decisions).
The benefits can be much broader than improving health and help achieve wider goals (e.g. more active travel would also mean reduced traffic congestion, and better air quality). It is seeing health as both an outcome, and an enabler – and an acceptance that “Health is Everybody’s Business”.