The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Community Readiness and Resilience Unit has issued a call for proposals for the development of a collection of case studies on COVID-19 and the impact of behavioural and social science insights.
This collection aims to:
- Contribute to the upcoming World Bank/WHO publication titled Behavioural Science Around the World (Volume III)
- Establish a body of best practices to be shared with the Member States and health emergency management partners
- Frame future technical products led by the Community Readiness and Resilience Unit and/or Behavioural Insights Unit
Background
Since early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic has affected communities in an unprecedented way. The integration of behavioural and social science has allowed the calibration, adaptation, and localisation of public health and social measures across efforts to respond to the outbreak worldwide. Now is the right time to capture the successes and challenges encountered by Ministries of Health and their partners in this process.
Documenting practical examples of integrated behavioural and social science initiatives will help others replicate these, both in the current pandemic and in future emergencies. Identifying challenges and constraints can guide WHO and the Member States on what they need to improve the utilisation of behavioural and social science tools and maximise their impact. Ultimately, WHO wishes to catalyse and contribute to building the knowledge base about behavioural and social science integration in health emergency programming.
Objectives
The collection of illustrative, exploratory, and descriptive case studies aims to document best practices and exemplify examples where the systematic application of behavioural and social science insights across the health emergency cycle has contributed to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of efforts to control outbreaks.
Cases will provide insight into research uptake and evidence translation into practical public health programmes.
The deadline for proposal submissions is 28 October 2022.
