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Health in All Policies: Evaluating the South Australian Approach to Intersectoral Action for Health

  • Public Health Intervention
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Abstract

Objectives: Health in All Policies (HiAP) has been promoted as a means of embedding concern for health impacts in the policy-making process. In South Australia, specific structures and processes to achieve this have been developed and tested.

Participants: The HiAP approach is designed to engage policy officers and managers in all sectors of government.

Setting: South Australia, one of six Australian states, which operates under a system of cabinet government. There are 15 government departments.

Intervention: The primary mechanism of the South Australian HiAP approach is the health lens analysis (HLA)–an intersectoral, partnership process drawing on public health research methods. It has been applied to three separate public policy issues: water security, digital technology and migration.

Outcomes: Evaluation findings to date suggest that the HLAs have resulted in the following: increased understanding by policy-makers of the impact of their work on health outcomes; changes in policy direction; development and dissemination of policy-relevant research; greater understanding and stronger partnerships between health and other government departments; and a positive disposition toward employing health lens analyses in future work.

Conclusion: There have long been calls for intersectoral action in order to achieve public policy supportive of positive health outcomes. Evaluation to date suggests that the HLA is a promising means of moving the agenda from policy rhetoric to policy action.

Résumé

Objectifs: La santé dans toutes les politiques (l’approche HIAP) est promue comme un moyen d’inscrire dans les processus décisionnels un souci des effets des décisions sur la santé. En Australie-Méridionale, on a créé et testé des structures et des processus spécifiquement à cette fin.

Participants: L’approche HIAP vise à mobiliser les agents de politiques et les gestionnaires de tous les secteurs du gouvernement.

Lieu: L’Australie-Méridionale, un des six États australiens, qui fonctionne selon un système de gouvernement de cabinet. On y trouve 15 ministères.

Intervention: Le principal mécanisme de l’approche HIAP en Australie-Méridionale est «l’analyse dans une optique de santé» (HLA)–un processus intersectoriel mené en partenariat qui fait appel aux méthodes de recherche en santé publique. Ce mécanisme a été appliqué dans trois dossiers de politiques publiques: la sécurité de l’eau, la technologie numérique et la migration.

Résultats: Les résultats de l’évaluation jusqu’à maintenant montrent que les analyses HLA ont entraîné: une compréhension accrue, chez les responsables des politiques, des incidences de leur travail sur les résultats sanitaires; des changements dans les orientations stratégiques; l’élaboration et la diffusion de recherches pertinentes pour les politiques; une meilleure compréhension et des partenariats plus forts entre la Santé et les autres ministères; et une tendance favorable à employer les analyses de type HLA dans les travaux futurs.

Conclusion: On réclame depuis longtemps des actions intersectorielles pour obtenir des politiques publiques qui favorisent les résultats sanitaires positifs. Les données d’évaluation obtenues jusqu’à maintenant montrent que la méthode HLA est un moyen prometteur pour passer de la théorie à la pratique dans les politiques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South Australian Community Health Research Unit, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia

    Angela Lawless DrPH (Deputy Director) & Catherine Hurley BSocAdmin

  2. Health in All Policies Unit, SA Health, South Australia, Australia

    Carmel Williams MPH, Deborah Wildgoose BSSc & Amy Sawford Bsc

  3. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland

    Ilona Kickbusch PhD

Authors
  1. Angela Lawless DrPH
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  2. Carmel Williams MPH
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  3. Catherine Hurley BSocAdmin
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  4. Deborah Wildgoose BSSc
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  5. Amy Sawford Bsc
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  6. Ilona Kickbusch PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angela Lawless DrPH.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: This research is part of the ongoing evaluation of the Health in All Policies initiative in South Australia and was funded by SA Health. The authors thank the participants for their valuable contribution to the project, Robert Quigley for his contribution to development of the HLA and evaluation framework, and Lynsey Brown for her feedback and assistance in preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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Lawless, A., Williams, C., Hurley, C. et al. Health in All Policies: Evaluating the South Australian Approach to Intersectoral Action for Health. Can J Public Health 103 (Suppl 1), S15–S19 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404454

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