JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Utilization of the maternal continuum of care (CoC)—comprising adequate antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care (PNC)—is critical for improving maternal and child health outcomes. However, dropout from the CoC remains substantial in Bangladesh, with women discontinuing services at different stages of pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care.

Air pollution continues to impose a substantial health and economic burden in China. Despite recent improvements, national annual average PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) concentrations remain substantially above the levels deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO), underscoring the need for more stringent air quality control.

Contact tracing (CT), the process of identifying and managing contacts of infected cases, is one public health and social measure that may reduce the spread of infectious diseases. While previous systematic reviews of CT exist, a comprehensive review of both the effectiveness and potential unintended consequences has not been undertaken to our knowledge. Understanding effective CT strategies could help governments and health authorities prepare effectively for emergency epidemic or pandemic situations.

The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its associated factors have not been investigated in Vietnam, especially in rural areas.

In the last 2 decades, there has been an increasing number of sexually transmissible enteric infection (STEI) outbreaks among gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). There remain important gaps in our understanding of how STEI transmission is sustained that repeated collection of samples could help to address.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant global health threat. Several public health campaigns aimed to raise AMR awareness and inspire related behavioral changes have been delivered in a time-specific, coordinated manner, while others have placed less emphasis on campaign timing. Social media platforms can be leveraged as key vehicles for delivering public health campaigns, particularly by collaborating with health content creators who serve as influential messengers. Increasingly, organizations such as the World Health Organization and TikTok have created health content creator networks; however, the impact of such networks in public health campaigns, especially when delivered in a coordinated, time-specific manner, remains uncertain.

With rapid population aging, both traumatic injuries and hearing disability have become increasingly prevalent among older adults. Hearing disability may increase vulnerability to injury through impaired balance, reduced environmental awareness, and functional limitations; however, longitudinal evidence examining the association between hearing disability and injury risk remains limited.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed structural vulnerabilities in the global health emergency workforce. Sustained monitoring of response competence dynamics is critical for maintaining health system resilience during protracted outbreaks.

Renal disease represents a significant and growing public health concern globally and within Saudi Arabia. Despite the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases, population-based data on the prevalence and determinants of renal disease in Saudi Arabia remain limited. Understanding epidemiology, including prevalence and associated risk factors of renal disease in the context of Saudi Arabia, is essential for designing preventive and early detection strategies.

Many countries, including China, have implemented nationwide smoking cessation programs in accordance with Article 14 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, the use of assisted smoking cessation services remains low, while unassisted smoking cessation (USC) methods are widely preferred. Studies have shown that many individual and environmental factors are associated with USC adoption. However, no studies have examined the association between social networks and USC adoption.

Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are important modifiable risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. High prevalences of physical inactivity among children and adolescents continue to represent a significant public health challenge globally, with approximately two-thirds of children worldwide not achieving the recommended daily amount of physical activity (PA). Countries in the Middle East exhibit some of the highest levels of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior, which contribute to the increasing rates of obesity among children and adolescents.

A substantial proportion of children and adolescents worldwide do not meet current physical activity (PA) guidelines. So digital tools interventions have been implemented worldwide. However, evidence regarding the effectiveness of these remains inconsistent, underscoring the need for a comprehensive synthesis of the available literature.