Strategies and incentives for enhancing the application of health impact assessment (HIA) in Nigeria: a view from those who should know

In consonance with the paradigm shift from curative to more preventive healthcare, there has been an increasing application of health impact assessment (HIA) in many developed countries. However, progress towards the integration of HIA into public policy in many developing countries has been comparatively very slow. This article is a primary research to evaluate the barriers and motivational factors; and to proffer effective strategies and incentives for enhancing the application of HIA in health and development policies in Nigeria. Semi-structured questionnaires were designed and primarily disseminated online to a random sample of health and non-health professionals, public service workers, policy-makers and business entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Additional questionnaires were also hand-delivered. Inferential statistics was used in the analysis of the 510 responses that were received. The findings show that 71% of the respondents had never heard about HIA, and 80.7% of those who were aware of HIA had not received ...