Health In All Policies (HIAP)

Monroe County Health Priority: Health in All Policies (HIAP) 

What is Health in all Policies (HIAP)?

• According to the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), “HIAP is a change in systems that determine how decisions are made and implemented by local, state, and federal governments as well as in the private sector to ensure that policy decisions have neutral or beneficial impacts on health determinants.” HIAP involves the commitment of a community to invest in the health of its residents. It is a systematic manner of looking at health through systems and policies that are implemented throughout government and in the private sector. “Ensuring that health is considered in the policy formulation process creates opportunities for policy decision to achieve the non-health agency mission and minimize or improve the policies impact on health.”

Why would you/we use it?

• It is a way to collaborate with decision-makers in a community to tackle health problems that do not have on single solution. HIAP provides an avenue to define solutions that are local to the community and relevant to the issue. NACCHO states that “the achievement of health equity is a central tenant for HIAP.” Policy development and initiatives should be used to elevate all communities to improve the social determinants of health; those conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age (WHO). HIAP eliminates the “siloes” of work that can often be performed in the community that is reactive to one particular need and brings key stakeholders together to plan for future needs in the community.

What are Health Determinants and Social Determinants of Health?

• Health Determinants: conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These conditions determine a person's chances of maintaining good health.
• Social determinants of health: the conditions in the places where we live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national, and local levels. Social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities – the unfair and avoidable differences in health status.

What are some resources?

• Health in All Policies at Pinellas Park, Florida
• CDC HIAP
• NACCHO Health in ALL Policies: Experiences from Local Health Departments

What are the next steps?

• How do you see your agency moving forward with HIAP? How can we help you? What would you need to make this happen? Who would you recommend talking to next?