It feels really special to once again meet in person after a long separation.
We're glad that the world is opening slowly but surely, and that's why we're here in person today.
We're really happy in WHO, because I don't think in-person meetings are replaceable. Of course, we should do Zooms - we have the technology, and we can use it very often - but in-person meetings are also very, very important, as things that can really bring us together.
I would also like to say hello to our colleagues who couldn't join, but I think we have some online. Thank you so much for joining us, and we look forward to having you here in person in the near future.
I would like to start by thanking you for your commitment. This is the first Technical Advisory Group for behavioural insights.
I would first of all like to start first of all by expressing my deep appreciation for our founding and outgoing chair, Professor Cass Sunstein, for his contagious enthusiasm and inspiring commitment.
The advisory group was created just one month after the pandemic began, as a new area of work for WHO.
As Gabby was saying, this is part of what we call crazy ideas that I asked for from colleagues.
Elena Altieri, in one of our Thursday open-hour slots - which is for staff every Thursday afternoon, they come to tell me crazy ideas, and she used one afternoon to come and tell me about introducing behavioural insights in our organization.
I remember when she walked into my room she had a red book, like this. You know the book, Nudge, a red paperback, very visible, and I was looking at her hand and the book, wondering what she was holding.
The discussion was all about that, and I was convinced, I didn't even say I would think about it, I said we should start.
That's when we were doing our transformation, so I thought it was one of the good transformation ideas for WHO. Then of course Gabby agreed to incubate it, and it's where it is now.
So I would like to thank both Professor Cass Sunstein, Elena Altieri, but also Gabby for taking the challenge to incubate it.
Behavioural insight is very important, as you know. Of course, it's better late than never, but for WHO I believe we should have even had it earlier, meaning your work is very, very important for WHO, and I would like to assure you of that.
Professor Sunstein was instrumental in defining the pace at which it worked, with short, targeted meetings on issues that required immediate attention.
Immediately after it was established, it started to produce results because of that approach, but it's with your support, with your full engagement, and I would like to thank you for that.
I remember he kept asking what more could be done, and pushed towards having the advisory group's first publication in just six weeks.
Professor Sunstein, although he's not with us today, please accept my deep appreciation for everything you have done. Surely, you will be missed.
I also welcome our new chair, Professor Susan Michie, and co-chair, Dr Fadi Makki, for this second phase of the Technical Advisory Group's mandate. We look forward to your leadership. Thank you so much for accepting the challenge.
I thank the members of this advisory group for your dedication and commitment. In the last two years you have met over 20 times, I think.
Your work is important because behavioural science remains an under-utilized resource in most public health work.
Despite many advances in the field, we have found that many policy-makers lack confidence in these interventions.
Investment in behavioural science research is disproportionately low compared to other sciences.
Low- and middle-income countries, in particular, often do not have access to context-specific evidence relevant to health challenges facing their communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a powerful demonstration of the need to engage communities, understand the challenges they face, their concerns and motivations, and work with them to adapt strategies accordingly.
Governments have faced the challenge of trying to persuade their populations to accept new behaviours and conditions in the context of rapidly evolving evidence.
We need a clearer understanding of health-related behaviours, and of how and why people make health-related decisions.
One of the most important lessons of this pandemic is that we cannot afford to be disconnected from the people we serve.
We need more research, more investment, more capacity-building, and improved collaboration between policy makers, practitioners, public health experts and behavioural and social scientists.
We also need better linkages with other areas of work such as health promotion and social determinants, so that these can be informed by behavioural evidence.
This is why your work is so important - and you have already accomplished a lot.
We have defined a road map and approved a strategy.
Our behavioural insights unit is staffed and funded, and is interacting with teams across the organization.
The team is providing technical support on a range of areas such as COVID-19, immunization, youth health, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition in schools and sporting events, hand hygiene, and caesarean sections.
At this year's World Health Assembly, we held a strategic roundtable discussion with our Member States, and we're now working with Malaysia on a resolution for next year's Health Assembly, and we are very glad to see growing interest of our Member States. They see the importance. So, your work is important.
Your work is being used.
The Behavioural Considerations of Covid Vaccine Uptake document has been downloaded more than 65 thousand times, and the training course on the behavioural insights data collection tool for Africa has 12 thousand enrolments.
One of your areas of focus today is the importance of behavioural insights for the uptake and retention of services for noncommunicable diseases.
NCDs are responsible for over 74% of all deaths worldwide, with an especially high burden in low and middle-income countries.
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Informing people about the risk of certain behaviours, or the need for treatment and care, is important and useful, but it is not enough.
Many countries face major challenges in getting people to seek care early, to follow up with return visits, or to take medications for diseases that are often asymptomatic.
Many of the cognitive, social and environmental barriers to health-seeking behaviour are context-specific, which is a challenge for a group like this which is taking a global view.
That is what makes this consultation between the NCD teams, the Behavioural Unit and the Technical Advisory Group so important, in three ways.
First, in understanding how better to make use of available evidence;
Second, to fill in the evidence gaps needed to use behavioural science to address NCD prevention and control;
And third, to help design the implementation of concrete interventions in countries and communities to increase the uptake of services for NCDs.
I also look forward to the publication of your findings on Behavioural Considerations on NCD service uptake.
Thank you once again for sharing your time and expertise, and for your commitment to a healthier, safer, fairer world.
Finally, I would like to thank a new chair, Professor Susan Michie, and the co-chair Fadi Makki. I wish you all the best, and I would like to assure you that I'm at your disposal 24/7, to support you in any way possible.
Thank you so much.
