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    Health in All Policies

    Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving the health of all by considering the health implications of public policies across sectors. Live Well Allegheny focuses on the health factors that impact chronic disease: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use.
    For more information, please visit the American Public Health Association website.

    Please use the following guides to incorporate Health in All Policies into your organization:

    Health Impact Assessments

    Health Impact Assessments (HIA) are tools to better understand how factors improve or worsen people’s health. An HIA can be used when new policies or plans are conceived to assess the impact on health and improve the strategies prior to implementation. HIAs allow decision-makers and stakeholders to:

    • Identify appropriate action steps in advance and hopefully avoid “unhealthy” outcomes
    • Determine how a decision would impact the health and health equity of people directly and indirectly prior to the development of a policy, plan, or process
    • Identify appropriate action to manage any negative impacts

    Use this HIA summary guide from Human Impact Partners for more information about using HIAs.

    In April 2018, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) sponsored Human Impact Partners, a nationally renowned organization, to provide a special two-day health impact assessment (HIA) training to members of ACHD’s community advisory coalition.

    The training equipped partners with basic information about HIAs and started a conversation about how to use HIAs in Allegheny County to address health disparities. The training provided hands-on experience with HIAs by using example policies in Allegheny County as possible topics for future HIAs. Attendees utilized the following case studies to practice using HIAs: blighted vacant land maintenance, driver’s license suspensions for drug arrests in PA, and paid family leave and medical leave. Explore more resources and materials from the training below: