HIA practices in Nigeria

Health impact assessment (HIA) provides useful information on existing health services, their capabilities and the health status of the local communities, which is otherwise often unavailable. In Nigeria, HIA is usually applied to projects and, by exposing existing health inequities in project communities, provides the necessary tool for development proponents to act to provide or improve health services and to implement health promotion activities. Based on HIA experience in Nigeria, this paper highlights the deficiencies in national legislation with regards to HIA/EIA (environmental impact assessment) integration and a number of learning points are discussed. First, a complete health baseline is critical to the understanding of project impacts; analysis must be broad-based, considering existing health determinants. Second, community stakeholders and proponents may modify the implementation of health mitigation measures and should be seen as collaborators in the assessment process. Third, strong HIA recommendations can influence project design. A greater participation of the health sector in EIA is required to enhance HIA utilization.