Environmental Impact Assessment Review
Volume 50, 2015, Pages 16-24

The inclusion of migrants in health impact assessments: A scoping review (Article) (Open Access)

Benkhalti Jandu M.* , Canuto de Medeiros B. , Bourgeault I. , Tugwell P.
  • a University of Ottawa, Institute of Population Health, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 201, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
  • b University of Ottawa, Institute of Population Health, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 201, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada, Fausto C Wanderley, 133, 102, Maceió, AL 57055-420, Brazil
  • c University of Ottawa, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 207, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
  • d University of Ottawa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, K1H 8M5 Ottawa, Canada, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Clinical Epidemiology Program, K1Y 4E9 Ottawa, Canada, University of Ottawa, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, K1H 8M5 Ottawa, Canada, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5 Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a scoping review assessing the extent and ways in which migrants have been included in health impact assessments (HIAs) and HIA evaluations worldwide. A total of 117 HIAs and two HIA evaluations were included. Only 14% of hand-searched HIAs mentioned migrants, 5% analysed migrants and only 2% included them in their recommendations. Nonetheless, migrants would be expected to be part of the analysis based on the reasons for which migrants were most commonly mentioned. Although the majority of HIAs included in the review mentioned migrants in baseline conditions and impact analysis steps, migrants were seldom included in recommendations. Furthermore, the use of frameworks or tools guiding the completion of an HIA was negatively associated with the inclusion of migrants in recommendations. This is a pivotal risk of frameworks not mentioning migrants. Although workshops and stakeholder engagement were a frequent way of including migrants in HIAs, this usually involved organizations representing migrants, and only seldom included members of the migrant community themselves. The main barriers to including migrants in the HIA impact analysis were the lack of available data on migrants and the significant additional resources required to gather and analyse additional data on migrants. Guidance is needed on ways to optimally include migrants in HIAs and ensure that recommendations for mitigation measures are optimal. © 2014 .

Author Keywords

immigrants Migrants Health impact assessment equity Refugees

Index Keywords

immigrant refugee Migrants health risk Refugees stakeholder Global perspective health migrant worker health impact health impact assessment data set Planning equity Environmental impact assessments mitigation assessment method public health immigrants
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84906499941&doi=10.1016%2fj.eiar.2014.08.009&partnerID=40&md5=ed00875eab879537ec672c414901f169
DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2014.08.009
ISSN: 01959255
Cited by: 6
Original Language: English