A sound evidence-base is needed to adequately judge the potential positive and negative health effects when conducting an HIA. Different kinds of data can be consulting in the HIA process. These can include qualitative or quantitative data, either from secondary sources (e.g. health surveillance data) or collected by the HIA study team though a variety of tools and methods.

The choice of adequate tools and methods for HIA depends on the identified information gaps during the scoping phase. The primary data collection tools are tailored to the specific needs of the assessment. They can include for example focus group discussions with affected community members, key informant interviews with health care personnel or household surveys. Depending on the specific data requirements further tools, such as entomological surveys or environmental sampling, can be added.

Selecting, developing and implementing adequate HIA tools requires extensive public health expertise. See TRAININGS if you are interested in available courses on HIA.