Description Of The Proposed project Of HIA †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Description Of The Proposed project Of HIA. Answer: Introduction The HIA project will provide a description of the proposed project. It will identify the significant health impacts of the proposed project by comparing the existing situation with the situation before the development is being carried out. It will also give an idea about the stakeholders that will be involved in the process, the decision making planning along with possible sets of recommendations. The report also provides the checklists used for the screening followed by evaluation of the procedures. Project Description Tobacco consumption is the most leading cause of death and diseases in Australia, hence reducing the consumption of tobacco and exposure to second hand smoke is a sole priority for the government (Lecours et al. 2012). In account to this, the standing commitee of the Australian government has proposed the National tobacco strategy 2012- 2018, to reduce any tobacco related harm in the environment (Nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au, 2018). This project mainly focuses on raising awareness among the people regarding the ill effects of tobacco consumption, establishment of the measures or limiting the interactions with the tobacco industry and ensuring the transparency of very interactions with the government, avoidance of any conflict of interests among the government officials and the employees. This HIA project will assess the credibility of the measures taken up in this strategy. Preliminary plan for the methods and procedures The plan for the scoping of an HIA can be stated as follows: Determining the appropriate level of the HIA to be conducted. Establishing the HIA team Identifying the impacts of the activity and the health related outcomes. Creating an HIA work plan Screening A justification for the level of HIA to be conducted The different levels of the HIA that would be conducted are the Intermediate HIA that will be able to review the evidences available regarding any other HIA related to this topic. It will involve the involvement of the different stakeholders and the time frame would be about 3-6 months. The scoping report will assess the strategies that have been taken up for reducing the tobacco consumption. The scoping will confirm all the taken strategies, identify and confirm the preferred activities and the alternative technologies. The HIA assessment will be able to identify the key issues identified in the impact assessment phase. The HIA assessment will be able to assess the whether the involvement of the mass media are actually being able to provide messages to the youths vulnerable to smoking. Stakeholders involved The stakeholders would be the any proponent or competent authority, the HIA administering body. The HIA administering body will be able to oversee and establish the procedural requirement for the scoping. Other stakeholders involve the HIA practitioners and the experts who may directly work for the agencies that are involved or as consultants. Other important stakeholders would be the public, who are affected by the proposal. By involving the masses, scoping assists in building the confidence in the HIA process. Preliminary plan for the decision making and recommendation Decision making Crosschecking the policy strategies with the probable feed backs of the public and the outcomes Tallying the outcomes with the baseline data Identifying the crucial portion of the policies that have actually not been addressed but was mentioned officially To recommend the possible measures to fill up the gap left in the National tobacco strategy. Some of the important factors have to be considered while making the decision making process. It is necessary to access the prevalence of the secondary school smokers with the previous years data. Furthermore it is necessary to keep an overview of the smoking prevalence in the states and the territories and the changes in the daily smoking status of the Australians. Recommendations According to the reports the Australian smoking rates had fallen to a considerable level both in the aboriginal population of Australia and the non-indigenous population during the period 1995 to 2014-15 (Abs.gov.au, 2018). In spite of the National Tobacco strategy, the estimated annual decrease has not significantly changed for the last few years. Furthermore the smoking rates among the teenagers have also increased (Banks et al. 2015). In order to bring about a considerable change in the smoking rates, emphasis should be put certain steps:- Imposing strict penalties of purchasing or selling of the cigarettes below the age of 18. Strict vigilance on the college campuses and high school. More media involvement of media in creating the awareness among the public (Bero 2003). Ban on tobacco advertising (World Health Organization, 2013) High amount of tobacco taxes (Chaloupka et al. 2012) Creating more awareness campaigns regarding the ill effects of tobacco. Preliminary plan for the evaluation, monitoring and follow up steps of the HIA-200 A scoping process that is custom tailored will include a profile of the community or the environment that is likely to be affected. The following things have to be addressed:- The geographical area and the time frame The institutional framework or the policy under which the HIA will be conducted Allocation of the resources and the responsibilities. Existing sources of information, constraints on the methodology. Modification of the design and the selection of the alternatives. Description of the screening tools used Screening of HIA involved the following steps:- Forming a core planning team Identifying the organizational capacity and context Reviewing the health determinants and the health impacts. The screening checklist may be used for assessing the HIA proposal. Health determinant Negative impacts Positive impacts Affected population Individual health behaviors Community factors Livelihood factors The following questions can be evaluated after the screening has been completed:- Has the National tobacco strategy been useful in reducing the public consumption of the tobacco? Could the strategy reduce the amount of exposure to the tobacco smoking? Has the policy helped some of the smokers to quit? Could the policy induce smoke place workplaces and other public places? Conclusion The National Tobacco strategy has been successful to some extent as the rates of tobacco consumption have decreased over the years. Yet there are many gaps left to be filled. It is necessary to decrease the prevalence of the smoking rates among the high school students and the Torrent Strait Islanders. In order to adopt more stringent governmental laws against the tobacco purchase and trade. The HIA assessment further helps to understand that there should be more awareness campaign supported by the media to educate the vulnerable group about the ill effects of Tobacco. References Abs.gov.au. (2018).4737.0 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: Smoking Trends, Australia, 1994 to 2014-15. [online] Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4737.0~1994%20to%202014-15~Main%20Features~Smoking%20Prevalence~10 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2018]. Banks, E., Joshy, G., Weber, M.F., Liu, B., Grenfell, R., Egger, S., Paige, E., Lopez, A.D., Sitas, F. and Beral, V., 2015. Tobacco smoking and all-cause mortality in a large Australian cohort study: findings from a mature epidemic with current low smoking prevalence.BMC medicine,13(1), p.38. Bero, L., 2003. Implications of the tobacco industry documents for public health and policy.Annual review of public health,24(1), pp.267-288. Chaloupka, F.J., Yurekli, A. and Fong, G.T., 2012. Tobacco taxes as a tobacco control strategy.Tobacco control,21(2), pp.172-180. Hemphill, S.A., Heerde, J.A., Herrenkohl, T.I., Toumbourou, J.W. and Catalano, R.F., 2012. The impact of school suspension on student tobacco use: a longitudinal study in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States.Health Education Behavior,39(1), pp.45-56. Lecours, N., Almeida, G.E., Abdallah, J.M. and Novotny, T.E., 2012. Environmental health impacts of tobacco farming: a review of the literature.Tobacco control,21(2), pp.191-196. Nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au. (2018).National Drug Strategy - National Tobacco Strategy 2012-2018. [online] Available at: https://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/national_ts_2012_2018_html [Accessed 3 Feb. 2018]. World Health Organization, 2013.WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2013: enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. World Health Organization.