World Health Assembly Strategic Roundtable on Behavioural Science for Better Health

WHO and Member States cannot achieve the ambitious goal of transforming global health and the health of more than 7 billion people without a clear understanding of people’s health-related behaviours. Behavioural sciences focus on understanding why specific behaviours and decision-making processes occur by investigating the drivers of and barriers that operate in a given context at the cognitive, social and environmental levels.

An initiative to mainstream and increase the use of behavioural sciences to complement a biomedical focus on public health challenges was launched by WHO Director-General at the end of the year 2019. WHA75 and this strategic roundtable provide the opportunity to share with the Member States WHO’s progress in this area; to continue raising the profile and awareness around this important field of work; and to hold strategic discussions on the way forward, specifically on how to better integrate behavioural sciences into the global health agenda through WHO’s work and that of Member States.

This strategic round table will be attended by the Ministers of Health from Malaysia, Qatar and Canada who will discuss their vision and concrete actions in this field and exchange ideas with experts from academia from the fields of behavioural economics and social sciences. 

Delegates to WHA are invited to attend the session, while non-delegates will be able to view via the webcast. We hope you are able to tune in.

Date/Time: Friday 27 May, 1 – 2:15pm (CET)

Location: Salle XXVI, Palais des Nations

Web streaming link