Behaviour and health research unit launch event

The BHRU will launch on 11 April (5pm) at a reception held in St John's College, Cambridge.

Overview

Poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption are together responsible for the huge burden of chronic disease worldwide. They also contribute to the differences in life expectancy between the poorest and the richest in the UK and elsewhere. But while most people value their health, many persist in behaviour that undermines it. The Behaviour and Health Research Unit has been set up with funding from the Department of Health Policy Research Programme.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of BHRU is to contribute evidence to national and international efforts to achieve sustained behaviour change that improves health outcomes and reduces health inequalities. Our specific objectives are:

• to generate evidence on the effectiveness, value for money, and impact on health inequalities of interventions delivered at individual, community and population levels;
• to provide policy makers with timely and authoritative information to support decisions on investing and de-investing in interventions designed to change health-related behaviour.

BHRU will focus initially on four behaviours, diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption, which together are responsible for the majority of premature deaths worldwide. We will run a programme of evidence synthesis and primary research.

The BHRU is made up of a team of experts from the University of Cambridge, MRC Health Nutrition Research in Cambridge, MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, RAND Europe, NICE and the University of East Anglia, with internationally recognised expertise in behaviour and behaviour change, evidence synthesis and statistical methods.

If you would like to attend, please respond by 1 April 2011 to Tamsin Sayer: tjos2@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

Agenda