Country experiences of applying behavioural and cultural insights to health: qualitative baseline study

With a regional WHO resolution related to this field and a regional 5-year plan with five concrete strategic commitments, WHO Regional Office for Europe jointly with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in January–February 2023 wished to gain a deeper understanding and context to the official reporting. The findings highlighted commitment to and optimism about BCI-related work and indicated that the WHO regional resolution, BCI action framework and reporting requirements are drivers of change. 

Barriers to advancing BCI work were related to

• skills (behavioural science, problem definition, trialling and impact evaluation, and translating evidence into policy or interventions); 
• staff, funding and time; 
• communicating messages to decisionmakers; 
• bridging processes for research and decision-making; and 
• organizational culture. 

Suggestions for possible solutions included

• the use of case examples to demonstrate the impact and value of BCI-related work;
• training; 
• funding and staff; and 
• awareness-raising among decision-makers. 

Regional and international partners were asked to 

• establish networking structures; 
• ensure advocacy; 
• collate good practice and case examples; and
• offer training and capacity-building.