Health impact assessment of urban transport planning in low- and middle-income countries

Urban transport contributes to developing cities in Low-and-Middle Income Countries (LMICs), but can also cause disease and death. Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are evaluation tools to assess the overall burden of mortality and morbidity related to urban transport development. HIAs can be used by policy makers to mitigate risks and increase benefits by estimating effects of transport policies on health and economic costs. Yet, only 6% of HIAs are conducted in LMICs. Few of them focus on participatory quantitative HIA (PQHIA) that combines stakeholder participation with quantitative HIA modelling. No peer-reviewed PQHIA of urban transport planning has been conducted in Africa.
The overall aim of the thesis is to bring health into the agenda of urban transport by developing and test a full chain PQHIA of urban transport planning policy applicable to LMICs, by addressing the following: How can HIAs of urban transport planning contribute to inclusive development in LMICs? The case study was run on the island of Mauritius, where urban population growth and environmental pressures are exacerbating health risks. The theoretical lens combines the DPSEEA model, the Inclusive Development theory, and the HIA approach.
The thesis succeeded in bringing health into the agenda of urban transport planning by developing and testing a novel PQHIA model in a LMIC setting. The case study reveals that participatory approach in quantitative HIA is novel and useful to contextualise quantitative modelling, co-design HIA with local stakeholders and influence the uptake of HIA outcomes, thereby providing opportunities for inclusive development.