Considering the crucial role of health behaviour in addressing key health challenges, fostering a health culture in which health-related behaviours are effectively enabled, supported and promoted is essential. The application of behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) for better health, a flagship WHO initiative, aligns with this objective. By adopting the European Action Framework for BCI for Health, Serbia-along with other countries in the WHO European Region-has committed to implementing and reporting on five strategic commitments: building stakeholder understanding and support for BCI; conducting BCI research; applying BCI in policy and program development; allocating human resources and funding for BCI; and integrating BCI into health strategies and plans. This paper summarizes BCI implementation in Serbia across two reporting cycles (covering 2021-22 and 2023-24, respectively) based on a consensus-building process with mapped stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping was guided by the BCI action framework criteria, aiming to include activities initiated, conducted, or completed by national or sub-national authorities and public health institutions within the reporting periods. This involved representatives from governmental bodies, institutes of public health, academic institutions, and UN agencies, ensuring a comprehensive overview of BCI activities and perspectives in Serbia. The reporting to WHO comprised five self-assessment scales (rated from level 1 to 5) and three binary (yes/no) indicators. In both reporting cycles, Serbia self-assessed implementation at level 3 (moderate) for all five strategic commitments. While progress on the 1 to 5 scale remained unchanged, some advancement was observed in the implementation of BCI in the areas of research and strategic health planning. Key challenges identified through this process are similar to those faced by other countries and include the translation of behavioural insights (BI) and cultural understanding into evidence-based practice, the systematic integration of BCI into program and intervention design, and limited interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. Addressing these challenges requires investment in BCI capacity-building, sustained funding through health programs, and the establishment of BI units and/or interdisciplinary BCI networks. These findings may also be valuable for countries with similar cultural contexts that are seeking to operationalise BCI within their health systems.
Baroš et al. (Thu,) studied this question.