LETTERS: The announcement by the prime minister and health minister on the adoption of behavioural change is the right step as Malaysia aims to enter the endemic phase after October.
Behavioural change is needed in the new norm as people learn to live with the coronavirus.
Since last year, countries such as the United Kingdom and Denmark have been implementing behaviourally informed policies to contain the spread of the virus while returning life to a limited form of normalcy.
In May, I recommended behaviourally informed interventions as a strategy to handle the pandemic.
Behavioural change can be promoted and achieved through educational programmes and awareness campaigns.
However, to affect behavioural change at the policy level, policymakers should adopt nudges by designing behaviourally informed interventions based on identified gaps among the target population.
Nudges and other form of interventions can be carried out by targeting family units and workers, taking into consideration social norms and timing of intervention. To be effective, intervention should be easy and attractive too.
Any initiative to change behaviour should consider cognitive limitations and biases affecting decision-making.
Simple acts, such as estimating one's physical distance in public places, are influenced by one's own biases. These biases lead to undesirable behaviours and, in turn, have considerable implication on the spread of Covid-19.
Equally important is measuring the effectiveness of behavioural interventions among the population.
In implementing behavioural change, a multidisciplinary approach is required, with expertise from the field of behavioural insights complementing public health and public policy practitioners.
In Malaysia, the Malaysia Productivity Corporation has been implementing behavioural insights as a public policy tool since last year to encourage the right mindset, attitudes and values using simple and cost-effective interventions.
A community of practitioners is growing to support behavioural insights practices in Malaysia's policymaking.
With the right mix of expertise and interventions, a successful behavioural change programme among the population can be achieved as we learn to live with the coronavirus.
Mohammad Abdul Hamid
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times