JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Despite major biomedical advances in HIV testing, prevention, and treatment, annual HIV transmissions in the United States remain above 30,000. Geographic access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is critical to HIV prevention efforts, particularly in regions with high HIV burdens, such as metro-Atlanta. Community-based organizations (CBOs) play a central role in delivering culturally competent prevention services, yet many rely on federal funding that is increasingly unstable. Understanding the potential impact of CBO closures on geographic access to PrEP is essential for anticipating inequities and informing policy.

In France, reluctance toward hepatitis B vaccination remains high, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine to prevent this infection. To boost vaccination coverage, it is therefore essential to identify the factors that are likely to encourage a more favorable opinion of this vaccine. Health literacy (HL) is one such factor. It refers to the individual ability to access, understand, critically appraise, and apply health information to make informed decisions about health issues for oneself and for others.

People living with HIV (PLWH) are at increased risk for developing cancer, a leading cause of death in this population. The management of cancer in PLWH is particularly challenging, necessitating specialized, interdisciplinary care. However, insights into cancer care provision for PLWH in Germany remain scarce.

This cross-sectional analysis of more than 19 million e-commerce orders from Sweden and Norway indicates that nicotine pouches have overtaken traditional snus in market share in both countries, reinforcing the potential of nicotine pouches as a harm reduction tool.

This research letter examines sex work and substance use associations in a sample of sexual and gender minoritized individuals recruited online in San Francisco, California. This study found that a history of sex work was prevalent and that people with a history of sex work were more likely to recently report using controlled substances and experience domestic violence.

China is currently facing an extremely low fertility rate, making it crucial to explore the influence of psychosocial factors on fertility intentions to address demographic structural challenges. Social support, as a potentially significant influencing factor, is not yet fully understood in terms of its specific pathways and gender differences.

HIV incidence continues to disproportionately affect sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals in Latin America. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), including long-acting products, urgently need scaling up in the region. Understanding PrEP modality preferences can help design effective implementation.

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 underwent several mutations since it was first identified in November 2021, with a large case of outbreak in Hong Kong during early 2022. Yet, local cases of Omicron infections persist, even though COVID-19 ended in May 2023.

Alcohol is a widely used psychoactive substance, and its use constitutes a major public health challenge due to its immediate and long-term adverse effects on various health-related outcomes. Adolescence has been identified as a particularly vulnerable phase regarding alcohol use. Although consumption rates in this age group have declined in Germany over the past decades, a plateau has been reached, and there is a continued need for interventions to further reduce consumption rates.

Mpox remains a global public health threat. However, data on mpox-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) and vaccination willingness among Chinese medical students, who are key future healthcare practitioners, remain lacking.

The demand for high-quality population health data at the local level calls for expanded tools for those working to enhance the health of communities across the country to easily calculate small area estimates. Statistical models that generate small area estimates often utilize Bayesian estimation techniques which are computationally complex and not readily accessible to most public health professionals. We developed two tools to facilitate small area estimation. For ESRI users, we developed the RSTbx ArcGIS plugin and for R users we developed the RSTr R package. In this tutorial, we demonstrate how to use these tools to calculate small area estimates and evaluate their reliability. We also demonstrate three key benefits from using either of these tools: 1) decreased number of geographic units with suppressed estimates, 2) flexibility to set the threshold for statistical reliability, and 3) credible intervals that can be used to identify statistically significant differences between geographic units. Additionally, both tools offer built-in age-standardization capabilities. We created census tract-level maps from North Carolina mortality data and Rhode Island hospitalization data to showcase the benefits of generating small area estimates with these tools. RSTbx and RSTr are powerful tools that can be used to meet the demand for high-quality local-level data to inform public health programs and tailor health promotion activities to the needs of communities across the country.

Widespread misinformation and low critical health literacy pose major barriers to public health worldwide. Rapid, scalable, and evidence-informed digital interventions are urgently needed to strengthen the public’s ability to make informed health decisions.