Abstract
The Behavioral and Cultural Insights Unit at WHO Regional Office for Europe was established in 2020 to promote the integrated use of behavioral and cultural insights (BCI) for health across the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region. The Unit supports formative research, co-design, and evaluation activities by national health authorities to address regional health challenges and support policymaking. Key early achievements include developing a survey tool to measure population perceptions, behaviors, and well-being in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic used in 30 countries of the Region and conducting qualitative research to assess Ukrainian refugees’ access to health services in four host countries. A range of projects are ongoing to gain insights and develop and evaluate interventions in areas as varied as breastfeeding, nutrition, post-partum depression, and cancer screening uptake. The unit also offers training and disseminates evidence and guidance to equip health authorities to apply BCI methods and approaches.
The authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this manuscript and they do not necessarily represent the decisions or policies of the World Health Organization.
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Habersaat, K.B., Fietje, N., Koylyu, A., Scherzer, M., Likki, T. (2023). Behavioral and Cultural Insights for Better Health: The BCI Unit at WHO Regional Office for Europe. In: Sanders, M., Bhanot, S., O' Flaherty, S. (eds) Behavioral Public Policy in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31509-1_20
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