The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Thursday that it has created a Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights and Sciences for Health as a new move to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference that this will broaden and deepen WHO's existing work on behavioral science, and will support its work "to offer health advice that is not only stronger, but more effective."
The technical advisory group consists of 22 outside experts from 16 countries, with expertise in areas including psychology, anthropology, health promotion, neuroscience, behavioral economics, social marketing and more, the WHO chief said.
"This new group will advise WHO on how to increase and improve the use of behavioral and social sciences in a range of health areas, including COVID-19," he said.
Noting that people all make decisions that affect their or other people's health, Tedros said that the behavioral sciences is very important since it helps understand how people make decisions.
"In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are using a range of tools to influence behavior," he said, adding that with the help of the new experts group, the WHO will be able to support countries to make the best decisions so as to better protect people's health.
