Our Mission

Delivering highest standard Health Impact Assessment

Our Vision

Health of policy and project affected communities is enhanced and safeguarded

Our Identity

• At the cutting edge of HIA since 1984, an independent consultancy in Health Impact Assessment

• Recognition as HIA pioneers and innovators

• Extensive contacts with the HIA community worldwide

• Health Impact experience in many countries and sectors

• Many publications

Our Services

Field and deskwork

Training courses and mentoring

Review and appraisal

Referral and selection

Commercial and not-for-profit Integrated ESIA/ESHIA

Martin H Birley, MSc, DIC, PhD, HonMFPH

Dr Martin Birley is an independent international consultant in Health Impact Assessment, former Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, UK, and former Senior Health Advisor on HIA at Shell. He has been at the forefront of global health impact assessment for over 25 years. He was involved in the development of the discipline since its early days in tropical medicine, to its later emergence as an instrument both for healthy public policy in the UK and Europe, and for community safeguards by international development banks.

He has personal experience of many sectors including water resource development, agriculture, oil and gas, housing and planning. He has written guidelines for health agencies, development banks and multinational corporations. He continues to work all across the globe as well as in the UK. He runs training courses for institutions worldwide. He currently heads up a UK based consultancy BirleyHIA. Martin’s depth of experience places him in an ideal position to provide an introduction to the rapidly expanding field of health impact assessment, for the benefit of newcomers and experienced practitioners alike.

Martin is a recipient of various awards including the Individual Award of the IAIA:

“This award is given to an individual who has made a major contribution to the discipline of impact assessment at an international level. For 2001, we have selected Dr Birley for his contribution to the development of health impact assessment as a recognised field of practice.”

He has also been recognised for his local voluntary work on environmental issues through the South West London regional award

“given to an individual who has made a major contribution to the improvement of the environment at a local level.”

Services

Frequently sub-contracted to provide health assessment with ESHIA/ESIA/EIA
Services offered associated with Health impact Assessment include:

– figurehead on bids,
– quality assurance to best international standards,
– staff training,senior advisory,project management,
– competence assessment,
– report appraisal,
– report writing,
– integration with Environmental, Social and other components of the assessment,
– scoping,
– prioritisation,
– interface,
– mitigation design,
– preparation of management plan,
– implementation monitoring.

Recent consultancy experience

2020 HIA for outline planning consent for residential development in Scotland.

2019-20 Quality control and assurance for the health component of an oil industry ESHIA in the Middle East.

2018-9 Quality control and assurance for the health component of a gas project in W Africa.

2017 Retained as adviser to High Speed Rail, UK (HS2)

Additional consultancy for ADB on Vietnam HIA Guidelines and demonstration projects

2016/7 Two-year contract with three other colleagues as Asian Development Bank HIA Advisory Team. Our focus was ADB itself and the five countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region. I was responsible for Research and Development.

2015 Diverse HIA inputs to EIA at Jacobs, mostly associated with highways and rail.

2014 Tanzania energy project.

2013 Qatar, Tanzania, Ukraine, Greenland, Bulgaria – energy projects

2012 HIA of tight gas fracking project in Ukraine; HIA adviser for hydropower project in Tanzania; further work for Thames Tidal Super Sewer, London.

2011/2 HIA as part of ESHIA for oilfield redevelopment in S Iraq

Health Impact Assessment

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is primarily concerned with the future consequences of plans, proposals and policies on the health of communities. It is a rapidly growing complement to Environmental Impact Assessment, increasingly mandated by national and international requirements. Guidelines have been produced by many national and international organizations and it is being introduced in a number of undergraduate or postgraduate university curricula. However, there has been until now no broad-based, introductory text of international scope to the subject, suitable for both these courses and for professional training.

The purpose of this book is to fill this gap and to introduce the subject of Health Impact Assessment using plain language, in both general and specific contexts and with reference to both market and less developed economies. As a result, the reader should be able to describe what HIA can and cannot achieve, identify the components of a successful HIA and participate in an assessment as a member of a team. Examples are provided from a number of planning and development sectors, including extractive industry, water resource management, and housing. The reader, whether student or professional, need not be a health specialist, although prior knowledge of some public or environmental health would be an advantage.

The book can be ordered from the following sources, as well as from any book seller. In many cases a 20% discount is available on the publisher’s listed price.

Routledge – the publisher • Amazon UKAmazon USABetter World Books – an ethically focussed supplier. Aslo available as E-book from Kindle, Acrobat and perhaps other formats.

COMPETENCES


Pioneering Health Impact Assessment since 1984
Extensive experience of HIA in many countries of the world
Author of many books, guidelines, reports and academic papers
Consultant to WHO, World Bank, Asian and African Development Bank, DFID, governments and private concerns
Senior Health Adviser on Health Impact Assessment for Shell International
Senior University Lecturer
Receipt of individual recognition award from IAIA for work of international significance in Health Impact Assessment
Invited speaker on HIA at many conferences
High level of computer proficiency

CONSULTATION SERVICES


FIELDWORK
We undertake and support Health Impact Assessment fieldwork in many countries – contact us for details
ADVISORY
We have extensive global experience – contact us for details. Our experience includes countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East, S.E. Asia, Europe and S America.
 For a confidential service, please request a telephone consultation. The first 60 minutes are currently offered free of charge.
DESKWORK
We undertake deskwork in support of HIA projects in numerous locations.
APPRAISAL
Reviews, critiques and appraisals: external, independent, third party • Rapid Health Impact Assessment appraisals • Bid appraisal.

OUR POLICIES

Confidentiality of client information is of paramount importance at Birley HIA.

          • We subscribe to the international standards for ethical medical research.
          • We minimise our ecological and carbon footprint through our use of resources and modes of transportation.
          • We regard climate change, peak oil, inequality, social gradients and poverty as major determinants of health.
          • We seek to involve the stakeholder community in open and transparent assessments.
          • All our projects are handled by principals, delegation is limited and supervised.

BirleyHIA – safeguarding community health

BirleyHIA consultants undertake HIA for Local Authorities, private & public sector organisations in collaboration with project sponsors, regulatory authorities, local communities, and other stakeholders; and within internationally accepted professional codes of practice. The firm also runs HIA training and workshops for individuals and organisations.