JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

An ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a methodological framework designed to capture real-time data in a participant’s natural environment, yet its feasibility in older adults, particularly in a large, multisite study, remains underexplored.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, regular population testing for SARS-CoV-2 was crucial for disease monitoring and management. Initially, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction tests were primarily used for identifying new cases, but their high cost and delayed results, combined with laboratory capacity and supply chain limitations, led to the adoption of antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) at point-of-care locations. On August 11, 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication recommending serial Ag-RDT testing to reduce the risk of false-negative results from singular testing and combat disease spread, followed by a revision letter on November 1, 2022, to manufacturers to update their authorized product labeling.

Despite policy-level progress, implementation of oral HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) remains limited in Latin America. In Peru, men who have sex with men (MSM) account for most new HIV diagnoses, yet uptake remains low. Widespread smartphone ownership and the use of digital platforms present an opportunity to expand access through mobile health (mHealth) interventions. However, limited data exist on user preferences to guide the design of mHealth tools in Spanish-speaking Latin American settings.

Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) remain a major global health concern. Although long-term air pollution exposure has been linked to ARIs, prospective evidence from community-based populations remains limited.

Multiple primary carcinomas (MPC) represent a clinically significant yet underexplored phenomenon, where patients develop more than one distinct primary malignancy. While prior studies have examined MPC within specific cancer types, comprehensive real-world patterns of primary malignancies and their subsequent primary malignancies remain limited. Moreover, the survival outcomes associated with these MPC patterns, particularly in relation to demographic and clinical characteristics, are not well characterized.

In 2021, a total of 82 million people used electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) globally. E-cigarette regulations around the globe vary widely from the product being banned in some jurisdictions to being completely unregulated in others. The Tobacco Pack Surveillance System (TPackSS) was initiated in 2012 to monitor tobacco packs available in 14 low- and middle-income countries with the greatest number of people who smoke. The aim of TPackSS is to assess compliance with country-specific tobacco packaging and labeling requirements and identify marketing features and appeals used on tobacco packaging.

Hypertension, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, is a significant public health challenge, with urban India reporting prevalence rates up to 40%. Excessive salt intake, averaging 8 to 11 g/day in India, far exceeds the World Health Organization–recommended limit of 5 g/day and is a key modifiable risk factor. While 24-hour urine collection is the gold standard for measuring 24-hour urinary excreted salt levels, its practicality in large-scale studies is limited, necessitating alternative methods such as spot urine sampling and dietary recall.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the leading causes of death from a single infectious disease worldwide. In Thailand, persistent gaps in early detection and access to TB care remain important public health challenges, particularly among populations in rural and remote areas.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b, a globally predominant strain, was introduced into poultry in the United States in 2022 via spillover from wild birds, and has since been regularly reported, posing ongoing risks to animal and human health. In 2024, the United States reported the first known HPAI A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b infection in dairy cattle, rapidly evolving into a multispecies outbreak among cattle and poultry, with spillover into humans. Publicly available data remained siloed and fragmented, hindering timely response. Innovative multimodal surveillance methods can enhance situational awareness through comprehensive, standardized data collection, integration, and visualization.

The National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is an evidence-based intervention proven to delay or prevent progression to type 2 diabetes, yet most at-risk people do not enroll. In Hawai’i, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) and Filipino adults experience disproportionately high rates of prediabetes and diabetes but have low DPP enrollment. From July to October 2024, the Hawai’i State Department of Health launched Beat Diabetes, a statewide media campaign encouraging DPP enrollment among at-risk adults, with a focus on NHOPI and Filipino communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential role of digital health tools in enhancing pandemic preparedness and response. These tools became essential, supporting not only health care delivery but also decision-making, communication, case identification, contact tracing, surveillance, vaccination rollout, and intervention evaluation. The interest in applying digital health tools to pandemic preparedness and response motivated conversations about digital epidemiology—a field of study that aims to provide insight into health and disease determinants by leveraging diverse digital data sources. In a globalized world, effective preparedness and response to pandemics require coordinated global action.