Institutional neglect or policy gap? Investigating government-driven health research within Eia in the Free State Province, South Africa (2010-2015)

Abstract

nvironmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) serve to assess the physical, social, economic, biological, and potential health impacts that proposed developments will have on the environment and adjacent communities. The practice shows that public health issues through Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) either receive partial reporting or are completely missing from final reports. This research examines the public health integration within EIAs which were reviewed by the Free State provincial government (South Africa) from 2010/11 to 2014/15. The research analysed 343 environmental authorisations across all five districts through qualitative methods and combined this with policy reviews and public participation records to determine if government-commissioned health studies received references during this period. The research discovered that no formal health impact assessments (HIAs) were conducted or referenced in the EIA documentation. Although the records included references to community health concerns such as respiratory illnesses, water contamination risks, sanitation hazards, and psychosocial stress, these issues were not translated into structured HIAs or reflected in the approval conditions. The main obstacles to proper implementation included institutional silos together with legislative ambiguity and insufficient practitioner capacity. The research demonstrates that EIA processes failed to properly handle community health concerns thus recommending a six-point policy reform framework which includes legal HIAs and cross-departmental collaboration with enhanced training and stronger public participation mechanisms to place health at the core of provincial EIA processing and governance.