📄 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

Predicting Subjective Cognitive Decline on Future BRFSS Survey Years: An Open Multi-Language Machine Learning Benchmark

This study presents an open, multi-language machine learning benchmark using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data that demonstrates stable, well-calibrated prediction of future Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) across temporal splits while identifying key predictors like decision-making difficulty through convergent interpretability methods.

Nguyen, T. T., Nguyen, T. D.2026-08-21
📄 public and global health

Effect of Continuum of Maternal Healthcare on Neonatal Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Pooled DHS-8 Analysis

This pooled analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from five Sub-Saharan African countries reveals that while complete continuity of maternal healthcare is associated with lower neonatal mortality in unadjusted models, this protective effect disappears after controlling for sociodemographic factors, indicating that the observed benefit is driven by selection bias rather than a direct causal impact of the care continuum itself.

Camara, S., Dwomoh, D., Tettey, P., Barrow, A.2026-08-21
📄 public and global health

Fine-scale spatial mapping of anaemia within two sentinel study communities associated with urogenital schistosomiasis in Malawi

This study in southern Malawi utilized fine-scale spatial modeling to demonstrate that *Schistosoma haematobium* infection intensity is significantly associated with anaemia severity, revealing distinct spatial risk patterns and high-risk clusters that support the need for targeted interventions.

khalid, f., Kayuni, S. A., Makaula, P., Musaya, J., Rollason, S., Stothard, J. R., Brown, A., Giorgi, E.2026-08-21
📄 public and global health

Adolescent health and Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in young adulthood: Evidence from a UK prospective longitudinal study

Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, this research demonstrates that adolescent health, particularly mental health conditions and their co-occurrence with physical issues like obesity, significantly increases the risk of young people being Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) at age 23, with effects being more pronounced for females and those who are economically inactive.

Kelly, D. P., Wels, J., Patalay, P.2026-08-20
📄 public and global health

Integrating respiratory infection surveillance and temperature data improves all-season mortality reconstruction

This study demonstrates that a hybrid neural-network model integrating high-resolution temperature data with respiratory infection surveillance significantly improves the accuracy of daily all-cause mortality reconstruction in Germany compared to models relying solely on weather or infection data, while also revealing that temperature-only models may overestimate the mortality risk attributed to cold exposure by failing to account for overlapping winter infection effects.

Wang, J., an der Heiden, M., Irrgang, C.2026-08-20
📄 public and global health

Spatial and Machine Learning Analysis of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Uptake in Ghana: Evidence from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey

This study analyzes the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey to reveal that breast and cervical cancer screening uptake is significantly lower in northern regions and strongly associated with wealth and education, demonstrating that combining spatial clustering analysis with machine learning can identify high-risk local hotspots beyond traditional regional reporting.

Siddick, A. H., Siddiq, A. I., Iddrisu, O. A.-F.2026-08-20
📄 public and global health

Defining Core Competencies and Training Priorities for Infectious Disease Dynamics as a Discipline

This study establishes the first structured framework of core competencies for doctoral-level expertise in infectious disease dynamics by utilizing an e-Delphi process to validate a consensus set of cross-cutting, applied modeling, and theory skills, thereby providing a standardized guide for curriculum development and trainee evaluation across the field.

Keegan, L. T., Shoaf, K.2026-08-20
📄 public and global health

Understanding how spatial interactions of built environment features shape substance-use risk among youth in a rapidly urbanizing Nigerian city

This mixed-methods study in Lagos, Nigeria, reveals that adolescent substance use is driven by both social exposure and perceived community availability, with the risk significantly amplified when these factors interact, thereby supporting multilevel prevention strategies that address environmental access alongside social influences.

Oyapero, A., Adedoyin, I. A., Oyejoke, O., Oma-Ojo, O. V., Olamide, A. I.2026-08-19
📄 public and global health

Dynamics, Optimal Control, and Spillover Risk of the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This study utilizes an SEIDR model and advanced optimization algorithms to analyze the dynamics of the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC, identifying a basic reproduction number of 1.83 and demonstrating that a time-varying optimal control strategy could shorten the epidemic by seven months while significantly reducing cross-border spillover risks to neighboring African nations, France, and Canada.

Li, J., Lai, S., Su, Y., Chen, Q., Rui, J., Zhao, Z., Chen, T.2026-08-18
📄 public and global health

20+ years of mass drug administration against urogenital schistosomiasis on the Zanzibar islands: Is praziquantel still efficacious?

A longitudinal study conducted on Pemba Island between October 2024 and March 2025 found that praziquantel remains highly efficacious against urogenital schistosomiasis following over 20 years of mass drug administration, with egg reduction rates exceeding the WHO's 90% threshold, although efficacy was slightly lower and negatively associated with pre-treatment infection intensity in one school.

Knopp, S., van Dijk, N. J., Ndum, N. C., Pennance, T., Ali, M. N., Suleiman, K. R., Denwood, M., Juma, S., Ame, S. M., E (…)2026-08-14