American author Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite writers.

She has always made me think about the choices we make.

In her book Small Great Things she writes: "Equality is treating everyone the same. But equity is taking differences into account, so everyone has a chance to succeed."

This difference between equality (treating everyone the same) and equity (treating everyone according to need) is at the heart of new Health Impact Assessments being introduced by Welsh Government to help assess the potential health effects of a policy, programme or project on a population, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups.

Life outcomes are often determined by circumstances largely beyond an individual’s control.

For example, it is well known that people in the least deprived areas of Wales can expect to live longer, healthier lives than those in the most deprived. The reasons include income, education, access to green space and healthy food, the work people do and the homes they live in. Taken together, these factors are widely recognised as the principal drivers of how healthy people are.

Addressing these wider socio-economic inequalities is therefore a crucial part of reducing this gap and at the heart of Health Impact Assessments.

By making policy makers focus on the roots of social injustice and provide additional resources to at risk patients we can aim to better allocate resources to support populations that need it more.

After being delayed by Brexit and the Covid-19 response, work is currently underway on developing Regulations under the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017.

The aim of the regulations is to require specific public bodies to consider the wider determinants of health in certain circumstances.

In this regard, Wales will become one of the first countries in the world to place Health Impact Assessments on a statutory footing.

A public consultation on the draft Regulations along with clarification of the thinking behind the assessment process is now open on the Welsh Government website.

The consultation seeks to address what should be considered; who should the regulations apply to; when should they apply; how should they be conducted and published; and the role of Public Health Wales.

I hope you will take a look at the consultation and feed in your views on how to make the assessments the best they can be from a social justice perspective.

I hope Jodie Picoult thinks that by taking differences into account we are making the right choices in Wales and helping provide everyone with the chance to succeed.