Behavioural sciences global agenda

WHO / Pierre Albouy
A discussion in Committee A on The highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities (Item 16.4) and Behavioural sciences for better health (Item 16.6) during the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 May 2023.

Behavioural sciences for better health resolution

A clear understanding of people's health-related behaviours is essential for WHO and Member States to achieve the ambitious goal of transforming global health and the health of more than 8 billion people. The World Health Assembly adopted the first ever global Behavioural Sciences for Better Health resolution on 29 May 2023 (WHA76.7).

This milestone resolution:

acknowledges behavioural sciences as an important multidisciplinary approach to better understand the influencing factors related to people’s health-related behaviours
urges Member States to boost investment, identify opportunities, and support cooperation for behavioural sciences to inform human-centred policies and interventions
requests WHO to mainstream and support behavioural sciences in public health, across WHO and within Member States on request, including: establish and strengthen behavioural science teams, units and functions; enhance awareness, knowledge and evidence; and provide technical assistance, normative guidance, and capacity-building.

The Director-General launched the Behavioural Sciences for Better Health initiative at the end of 2019, first incubating a cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary behavioural insights function, which culminated in establishing a permanent Behavioural Insights Unit at WHO headquarters in 2022. Informal consultations with Member States, a strategic roundtable held at the seventy-fifth World Health Assembly, and the Director-General’s Behavioural sciences for better health initiative report led to the adoption of the milestone global resolution, at the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly in May 2023.

The Behavioural Insights Unit functions as secretariat for the resolution and is the focal point for WHO and Member States for strategic guidance, technical assistance, knowledge sharing, capacity building and partnerships creation for behavioural science for health.

First established as part of WHO Department of Communications, the unit transitioned to Healthier Populations in July 2023, positioning behavioural sciences as a resource to inform the design of public health policies, programmes, services or targeted interventions to positively impact people’s health.

Implementation of the global resolution is underway, and the unit is rapidly scaling up work to mainstream behavioural insights across WHO and with partners, working closely with WHO regional and country offices. The initiative is advised by a Technical Advisory Group. Behavioural insights focal points in WHO regional offices collaborate with the unit in headquarters to define priorities and plans, and to maximize opportunities to build capacity and test approaches drawing on established technical expertise and lessons learned during the incubation phase.

Aligned with the global resolution, social and behavioural sciences strategies and resolutions at the regional level play a crucial role in mainstreaming behavioural insights into public health.