"Increasing take-up of preventative health behaviours to mitigate the rise of non-communicable diseases in lower- and middle- income countries: a comp

1非传染性疾病发病率不断上升的社会经济代价巨大，穷人可能承担不成比例的负担。虽然非传染性疾病发病率的决定因素很复杂，但一些主要的风险因素是行为。通过预防性行动减少这些行为风险，对贫困家庭和政府都有很高的回报。我的建议的中心研究问题是如何最好地诱导预防行为：通过直接针对这些行为的干预措施，或通过解决贫困的干预措施-这一因素被充分证明是许多不健康习惯的间接原因。有证据表明，改变行为的干预措施可以在低能力环境中提供可扩展的低成本解决方案。然而，贫穷与采取预防性行为之间也有密切的关系。一些证据表明，减轻贫穷可以间接解决不健康的行为，从而改善健康结果。在我的博士研究中，我试图评估减少不健康饮食的干预措施：这是一种与一系列疾病（糖尿病，心血管疾病）密切相关的行为风险因素，在中低收入国家负担很高。在论文的第一章中，我提出将消费选择模型扩展到预防性健康决策，并在实验室现场实验中测试模型的参数。我将测试1）实验性诱导的贫困变化，2）旨在克服行为障碍的干预措施，或3）1和2的组合是否会改善健康行为的采取。为了告知实验，在我的第二章中，我建议对用于促进中低收入国家预防性健康习惯的干预措施进行系统的回顾和荟萃分析。在第三章中，我将寻求因果关系，确定可归因于行为特征的健康结果的跨国差异。

Lower- and middle- income countries (LMICs) face a growing and disproportionate burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).1 The socio-economic costs of growing NCD rates are substantial and are likely to be borne disproportionately by the poor. While determinants of the rates of NCDs are complex, some of the major risk factors are behaviours. Reducing these behavioural risks through preventative actions would have high returns both for poor households and for governments. The central research question of my proposal is how best to induce preventative behaviours: through interventions targeting the behaviours directly, or through interventions which address poverty - a factor well-documented as the indirect cause of many unhealthy habits. Evidence suggests behaviour change interventions could offer scalable, low-cost solutions in low-capacity settings. However, there is also a strong relationship between poverty and take-up of preventative behaviours. Some evidence suggests alleviating poverty could indirectly address unhealthy behaviours, thus improving health outcomes. In my doctoral research, I seek to evaluate interventions to reduce unhealthy diet: a behavioural risk factor strongly associated with a range of diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular) with a high burden in LMICs. In the first chapter of my thesis, I propose to extend the model of consumption choice to characterise decisions on preventative health and to test the model's parameters in a lab-in-the-field experiment. I will test whether 1) experimentally induced variation in poverty, 2) an intervention designed to overcome a behavioural barrier, or 3) a combination of 1 and 2 improves the take up of healthy behaviours. To inform the experiment, in my second chapter I propose to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions used to promote preventative health habits in LMICs. In the third chapter, I will seek to causally determine the cross-country variation in health outcomes attributable to behavioural characteristics.