JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are respiratory protective devices that actively supply filtered air and maintain positive pressure in the breathing zone, thereby limiting the inward leakage of unfiltered ambient air through gaps. Their principles and technology are already established. Positive-pressure PAPRs have primarily been used by health care workers in high-risk environments. However, their potential as an individual-level infection-control measure applicable to the general public has not been formally positioned for evaluation within the context of pandemic preparedness. This viewpoint aims to demonstrate the rationale for and need to position exposure control using positive-pressure PAPRs designed for the general public as a subject of systematic public health evaluation. Unlike existing measures that depend primarily on behavioral change, spatial separation, or acquisition of immunity, this intervention directly reduces aerosol inhalation exposure in an individual’s breathing zone—the physical process that precedes airborne infection. Existing engineering studies increasingly make it possible to consider a public-oriented positive-pressure PAPR not merely as an idea but as a concrete intervention model with the potential for manufacture and implementation. However, the extent to which engineering measures of aerosol protection translate into individual-level prevention of infection and population-level infection control under real-world conditions must be established empirically. Individual-level preventive effectiveness, population-level infection-control effectiveness, engineering performance, feasibility of implementation, sustained use, social acceptability, cost, and equity must therefore be evaluated comprehensively by integrating medical and engineering assessments within a public health framework. This article does not advocate the immediate introduction of positive-pressure PAPRs for the general public. Rather, it identifies an institutional gap: established principles and technologies have not been incorporated into formal public health evaluation as a population-level infection-control measure. Evaluating positive-pressure exposure control for the general public is necessary to determine whether it could broaden policy options in future respiratory infectious disease pandemics and reduce excessive reliance on measures with major societal consequences.

Geographic information systems (GISs) and digital dashboards have become central to epidemic monitoring and crisis response, yet their broader potential for routine, equity-focused public health decision-making remains underused. As health systems increasingly prioritize reaching underserved and vulnerable populations, mapping platforms must evolve from static visualization tools to dynamic decision-support systems. This paper reflects on the development and strategic role of the Reaching the Unreached (RTU) map explorer, a regional geospatial decision-intelligence platform developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. The RTU map explorer integrates high-resolution subnational data across 36 countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region. It consolidates demographic, socioeconomic, health access, and vulnerability indicators into a unified geoportal that enables visualization at resolutions ranging from the national level to the village level. Drawing on open-access spatial repositories and modeled datasets, the platform applies population-based spatial clustering methods to settings where administrative units are too large to capture meaningful local variation. Built using an open-source architecture, the platform offers interactive functionalities, including layer activation, filtering, prioritization tools, and location-specific mapping, to support localized planning and resource allocation. By combining contextual and health-related data within a single interface, the RTU map explorer facilitates a shift from reactive surveillance to proactive, equity-oriented decision-making. Policymakers can compare vulnerabilities across regions, program managers can prioritize high-need districts or communities, and local implementers can identify specific locations for targeted interventions. Although challenges remain, including data recency, modeled data uncertainty, and the need for field validation, the platform illustrates how integrated geospatial intelligence can move public health beyond documenting disparities to actively addressing them through localized, data-driven action.

Bacterial gastroenteritis remains a substantial public health burden. South Korea has operated an electronic sentinel surveillance system (SSS) since 2000; in 2023, a total of 211 sentinel hospitals conducted surveillance for 11 notifiable types of bacterial gastroenteritis. The system has not undergone a comprehensive evaluation.

Understanding temporal changes in noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes is crucial for informing health policy precisely and improving population-level outcomes.

Mental distress represents a major public health challenge worldwide, affecting work ability, productivity, and social functioning. Public-sector employees face high psychosocial demands, but data on their mental health literacy and supportive behaviors remain scarce. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) aims to improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB) toward psychological distress among nonspecialists, but evidence among civil servants and on skill retention over time is limited.

Depressive and anxiety symptoms are primary drivers of China’s mental health burden, with workplace psychological issues growing increasingly pronounced. However, evidence on industry-specific patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms and their occupational determinants remains limited. Understanding these sector-specific differences is critical for pinpointing high-risk occupations and designing effective, tailored intervention strategies.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health threat globally, with disproportionate impact in low- and middle-income countries, where surveillance systems are often fragmented. In Iraq, nationally integrated multicenter resistance data to support stewardship policy and World Health Organization Access Watch Reserve (WHO AWaRe)–aligned interventions remain limited.

The range expansion of ticks transmitting zoonotic diseases in Canada poses challenges for public health surveillance. Active monitoring of where tick populations are emerging helps inform public health responses, but is resource intensive and logistically complex. Crowdsourced data may provide a cost-effective approach to augment surveillance. In this study, we assessed the value of crowdsourced data from eTick, a platform whereby the public submits tick photographs for expert identification.

COVID-19 profoundly affected emergency department (ED) services and patient outcomes. However, changes in ED length of stay (LOS) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission risk before, during, and after the pandemic remain poorly understood.

Infectious disease–specific health literacy (IDSHL)—the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic infectious disease information needed to make appropriate health decisions—is a critical determinant of public health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global public health education context; yet, its long-term association with population-level IDSHL beyond the pandemic remains unclear. In China, stringent public health measures and digital information campaigns were implemented, yet their lasting impact on IDSHL across different disease domains has not been systematically evaluated over a full pandemic cycle.

Blood exposure accidents (BEAs) remain a major occupational hazard for health care providers, particularly in low‑resource settings. Despite their preventable nature, BEAs continue to occur frequently due to gaps in compliance with standard precautions and limited institutional surveillance.