Taxes on sugary drinks, restrictions on junk food advertising, and protected bike lanes all struggle with the same problem: low public support, which blocks their implementation. This matters because non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease cause roughly 70% of global deaths each year. Modifiable behaviours—poor diet, excessive alcohol, tobacco use, and physical inactivity—drive these diseases. Governments invest heavily in policies targeting these behaviours, but without public backing, the policies rarely get enacted. The field currently lacks a cohesive framework, validated measures, and clear practical guidance for building that support. If this research succeeds, it will reshape how policymakers design and communicate health policies. The project aims to develop and test interventions that increase public support, identify what makes a policy popular, and produce practical guidance for implementation. This could transform how governments introduce measures that quietly shape everyday life—from what food costs at the checkout to how cities are laid out for walking and cycling. The ultimate goal is to ensure effective health policies are implemented, potentially saving millions of lives each year.
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Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease account for approximately 70% of global deaths each year. Modifiable behaviours such as a poor diet, excessive alcohol use, tobacco use, and physical inactivity all increase the risk of developing these diseases. As a result, considerable resources are put into public health policies that target each of these behaviours, such as taxes on less healthy products, restrictions on advertising, and creating protected bicycle lanes. However, public support for these and other policies is consistently low which creates a barrier to policy implementation. Investigating how to increase public support for health policies is being hindered by a lack of a cohesive framework, unvalidated measures, key evidence gaps, and a lack of clarity for applying insights into practical guidance. This proposal describes an international, multidisciplinary investigation of how to increase public support for health policies. The objectives are: (i) to reshape the field's methodology (ii) develop and test interventions for increasing support for health policies, (iii) to identify characteristics of popular policies, and (iv) to advance the theory and practical applications of the field. Achieving these objectives will transform the field and lead to a step change in our understanding of when and why the public support health policies. This will therefore form a key component of wider efforts to ensure that effective health policies are implemented and ultimately save millions of lives every year.
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