📄 Category

public and global health

433 papers

Public and global health examines how we protect communities from disease, manage outbreaks, and improve well-being across the world. This vital field connects diverse research on everything from infectious disease control and vaccination strategies to the social factors that shape our collective health. Because these studies often impact policy and daily life, understanding them quickly is more important than ever.

At Gist.Science, we track every new preprint published in this category on medRxiv to ensure you never miss a breakthrough. We process each submission to provide both plain-language explanations for general readers and detailed technical summaries for experts, making complex findings accessible to everyone.

Below are the latest papers in public and global health, freshly summarized from the most recent medRxiv releases.

📄 public and global health

Intervention and evaluation protocol of fit4future Kids: A multi-component health promotion programme in German primary schools

This paper outlines the intervention and mixed-methods evaluation protocol for the nationwide fit4future Kids programme, a multi-component health promotion initiative in German primary schools designed to enhance children's physical activity, nutrition, mental health, and digital media use while strengthening schools' capacity for sustainable implementation through evidence-based frameworks.

Sterr, K., Blaschke, S., Hess, D., Lux, L., Brandmeier, A., Mess, F.2026-05-26
📄 public and global health

Random Forest Model for Predicting Post-Lockdown Antenatal Depression Risk: A Cross-Sectional Study of Pregnant Women in China

This cross-sectional study in China found that post-lockdown antenatal depression is prevalent and strongly associated with sleep disorders, family support, and COVID-19 symptom severity, with a Random Forest machine learning model demonstrating superior predictive performance compared to other algorithms.

Pan, Y., Lin, H., HIRONO, T., Yang, Y., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y.2026-05-26
📄 public and global health

DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF PATIENT AND HEALTH SYSTEM DELAYS IN TUBERCULOSIS DIAGNOSTICS AND TREATMENT AMONG INDIVIDUALS AGED 15 YEARS AND ABOVE AT KENYATTA NATIONAL HOSPITAL, NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

This facility-based observational study at Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya identifies patient-related barriers (such as low awareness, financial constraints, and stigma) and health system inefficiencies as key determinants of delays in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment, which consequently lead to increased disease severity and continued transmission.

Arnold, M. R., MOGERE, D. M., MAGU, D. M., OWANG, M. M.2026-05-25
📄 public and global health

Food insecurity as a determinant of adolescent mental health in Francophone and Anglophone Africa: A multilevel analysis

Using Gallup World Poll data from 2014 to 2019, this multilevel analysis reveals that food insecurity is a significant, dose-dependent determinant of poor mental health among adolescents in both Francophone and Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa, with severity of insecurity directly correlating to increased odds of negative mental health experiences.

Fonta, C. L., Elgar, F., Gordon, D., Toumpakari, Z.2026-05-25
📄 public and global health

Cumulative In-Context Learning versus Simple Historical Weighting for Real-Time Geographic Origin Identification of Ongoing Epidemic Waves: A Comparative Evaluation Using Eight COVID-19 Waves in Japan

This study demonstrates that a transparent, spreadsheet-implementable statistical method using cumulative historical weighting performs comparably to a large language model in identifying the geographic origins of Japan's COVID-19 waves, revealing that the performance gain stems from the accumulation of historical data rather than the AI's reasoning capabilities, though the model still exhibits significant intrinsic geographic reasoning without such context.

Nakagawa, S., Yamamoto, A.2026-05-25
📄 public and global health

Does Parental Migration Affect a Child's Immunization Coverage? A Cross-sectional Analytical Study of India

This cross-sectional study of India's National Family Health Survey-5 data reveals that children who recently migrated are significantly less likely to be fully immunized compared to non-migrant children, regardless of household wealth or social group, highlighting recent migration as a critical barrier to vaccination coverage.

Dhalaria, P., Kumar, P., Kapur, S., Verma, A. K., Singh, A. K., Priyadarshini, P., Singh, K., Tripathi, B., Ray, A.2026-05-22
📄 public and global health

Patterns and predictors of domestic violence and abuse enquiry in South East London maternity settings: Cross-sectional analysis of routine electronic health record data collected between 2019 and 2023

A cross-sectional analysis of over 7,000 maternity appointments in South East London reveals that despite national guidelines recommending universal domestic violence and abuse (DVA) screening, enquiry rates were inconsistent and significantly influenced by demographic and socioeconomic factors, suggesting midwives selectively prioritize screening based on perceived risk rather than adhering to routine protocols for all patients.

Smeeth, D., Keynejad, R. C., Catalao, R., Luck, G., Wood, D., Wilson, C. A.2026-05-21
📄 public and global health

Global variation in cardiometabolic risk structures: A 48-country comparative Bayesian network analysis in 146,000 participants using WHO STEPS data

This study analyzed 146,000 participants across 48 countries using Bayesian networks to reveal significant regional variations in cardiometabolic risk structures, demonstrating that public health strategies must be tailored to specific geographic contexts rather than relying on generalized models.

Babagoli, M. A., Beller, M. J., Scutari, M., Gonzalez-Rivas, J. P., Noronha, J. C., Medicine, A., Sulbaran, N., Cabrera (…)2026-05-20
📄 public and global health

Evaluating a Sexual Violence Primary Prevention program in Australian Secondary Schools: A Protocol for a Pilot Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

This paper outlines the protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial in Australian secondary schools designed to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of the Schools Education Program—a multi-component sexual violence prevention intervention—while integrating realist evaluation methods to understand the mechanisms and contexts driving its outcomes.

Haylett, F., Kuruppu, J., Ison, J., Theobald, J., Caluzzi, G., Li, X., Mwatsiya, I., Vrankovich, S., O'Rourke, K., Bourn (…)2026-05-19