In order to assist HIA practitioners in Canada and increase capacity in Health Impact Assessment (HIA), the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) asked Habitat Health Impact Consulting to develop a Canadian HIA course. The first task was to review existing HIA courses worldwide and report on the main lessons learned by providers in order to inform Canadian development. This report includes a description of the methods used, the outcomes of the scan of existing courses, and an analysis of the results. Based on the Habitat study, the NCCHPP underscores the importance of adapting the content of training sessions to the specific context in which they are provided while maintaining the core elements of HIA.
Thus, the core elements should include:
· A discussion of HIA, the values that guide it and its utility,
· The different types of HIA and the rationale for including HIA in various contexts, and
· HIA methods of screening, scoping, assessment, recommendations and evaluation.