The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have recently announced a Collaborative Research Arrangement that aims to normalise behavioural insights into public health programmes and policies worldwide.
According to the report, Behavioural insights will help improve understanding on how and why people behave in ways that affect their health and help design policies and services that address behavioural factors for improved physical and mental well-being.
Furthermore, the WHO will be assisted by the JRC in expanding its behavioural insights for health programme. Both organisations will agree on specific areas of focus, which would include issues like non-communicable diseases, anti-microbial resistance, and the use of behavioural insights to increase the capacity of health workforce.
Stephen
Quest the JRC-Director was quoted as saying: “We are confident that including a
strand of behavioural research in public health programmes will increase their
efficiency in preventing and treating a series of health risks and
diseases".
WHO Director General responds –
The partnership was welcome by
the WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying: “Harnessing the
power of behavioural science is vital for helping WHO achieve its mission to
advance the health of all people.
Our partnership could not come
at a better time, as behavioural challenges are affecting people’s health in
many ways, from the measures we take to protect ourselves from COVID-19 to the
decisions we make on nutrition, antibiotics and information we use for our
health.”
It should be noted that this
research arrangement builds on the priority placed by European Commission’s
President Ursula von der Leyen on public health, and it is expected to
contribute to building the European Health Union and promoting reforms in
health governance in the EU and worldwide.
Credit: WHO News
No comments:
Post a Comment