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NA TIONAL BL UEP RINT F OR BEHA V IOURAL INSIGHTS IN HEALTH
MAINS TREAMING BEHA V IOURAL SCIENCE F OR BET TER HEALTH

Behavioural science, as stated in the World Health Organization (WHO) resolution, is a
multidisciplinary scientific approach that examines human action and its psychological, social,
and environmental drivers, determinants and influencing factors (6). It is applied to protect
and improve people’s health by informing the development of public health policies,
programmes and interventions that can range from legislation and fiscal measures to
communications and social marketing, as well as to support other public health efforts.
While “behavioural science” and “behavioural insights” are often used interchangeably to
describe the understanding of human behaviour, BI specifically refers to the lessons about
human behaviour derived from behavioural sciences.

The application of BI spans a wide range of areas, including public policy, healthcare,
finance, marketing, education (7), and more. By understanding the factors that influence
behaviour, health stakeholders can design interventions, policies, and strategies that are
more likely to achieve positive and beneficial outcomes (4).

The WHO outlines six principles for applying BI to guide effective health interventions (8).

Principle 1 to 3: Principle 4 to 6:
Understanding what influences behaviour Understanding how to harness
behavioural evidences and theory

1. Cognitive and other psychological factors 4. Behavioural evidence and theory should
underpin human behaviour. be used in planning, designing and
implementing health policies and
programmes.

2. Social and cultural contexts, and
accompanying norms, values, and practices,
influence behaviour. 5. Evaluate strategies and interventions to
provide empirical evidence on what works
in facilitating healthy behaviour.

3. Environmental influences: external factors
in the environment can enable or discourage
healthy behaviour. 6. Participatory approaches should be used
in planning, designing and implementing
health policies and programmes.

Figure 1: Principles and steps for applying a behavioural perspective to public health

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