Equity Metrics for Health Impact Assessment Practice (SOPHIA)

From the Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA) - Equity is a core value of Health Impact Assessment (HIA). Many HIA practitioners engage in the work to address systemic, avoidable, unjust, and unfair differences between population groups in factors important to health.

The conceptual framework and tools in this resource emphasize building community power through the practice of HIA as a key process for advancing equity. Building community power is the process by which communities gain control over the factors that shape their lives, including access to information and opportunity, decision-makers, and policy-making. A true balance of power implies more than the participation of communities, but rather community ownership of processes, planning, and actions that seek to change the determinants of health equity.