Data on barriers to childhood vaccine uptake are needed to understand and address declining coverage. This study aimed to measure access and acceptance barriers to routine childhood vaccination faced by parents in Australia.

This study examines the impact of environmental degradation, focusing on air pollution and CO emissions, as key climate stressors on health outcomes, specifically pollution-related mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The research explores how healthcare infrastructure, accessibility, quality, and policies contribute to climate resilience by mitigating pollution-related mortality and supporting adaptation to environmental stressors.

Few prospective studies have investigated early-life tobacco smoke's effects on chronic gastrointestinal diseases (CGD) and multi-morbidity (CGM). We examined associations between early-life tobacco exposure and subsequent CGD or CGM development.

This study examined the association between individual housing cost burden and depressive symptoms, hypothesizing stronger associations particularly in primary breadwinner men who may bear disproportionate financial responsibility. Unlike previous studies that applied uniform household-level housing cost burden measures to all household members, we introduced an individual-level analysis approach to address the potentially unequal distribution of financial stress within households.

Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Latin America, driven largely by modifiable lifestyle factors such as poor diet, physical inactivity, alcohol intake and tobacco use. In this study, we estimated the burden of cancer deaths attributable to lifestyle risk factors in five Latin American countries.

On May 20, 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement, complementing 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR). While these reforms aim to strengthen pandemic preparedness, address inequities, and support resilient health systems, their final texts fall short of embedding human rights as a central pillar. Despite rights violations during COVID-19 prompting global calls for reform, the instruments soften explicit rights commitments with broader principles of "equity" and "solidarity," which lack the legal precision and accountability of human rights law. We examine the implications of this shift, assessing how it may limit rights-based accountability in pandemic governance. Without deliberate institutional design-particularly within the Conference of the Parties (COP) process-these reforms risk an "implementation trap" where ambitious goals lack enforceable follow-through. We propose concrete measures to integrate human rights into governance, monitoring, and reporting to ensure the Pandemic Agreement fulfills its equity, solidarity, and rights promise.

The relationship between extreme temperature events and COVID-19 transmission remains a subject of ongoing debate, particularly in the Western Pacific Region (WPR).

To synthesize evidence from meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating interventions aimed at improving polypharmacy management in older adults, with a focus on key clinical outcomes including mortality, hospitalizations, and falls.

Malaysia recorded about 2.7 million COVID-19 cases as of December 31, 2022. An understanding of the overall health and economic burden of COVID-19 on healthcare services and productivity in Malaysia is important for policymakers for future planning and prioritising.

This study aims to determine the validity and reliability instrument of the health literacy for school-age children (HLSAC) in Iranian adolescents (HLSAC-IA).

Loneliness is a widespread mental health concern among middle-aged and older adults, negatively affecting both psychological well-being and physical health. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been identified as critical determinants influencing mental health outcomes in later life. This study aims to investigate the longitudinal trajectories of loneliness in the Chinese middle-aged and older population and to examine the potential impact of ACEs on these developmental patterns.

To examine the prevalence, patterns, and protective factors that mitigate Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia.

The present study aimed to establish a relative sedentary behavior time (RSBT)-i.e. proportion of wake time spent in SB-threshold above which the risks of multimorbidity significantly increase in older adults (OA).

As populations age, extending healthy working lives has become a policy priority. However, disparities in health-related work limitations (HRWL) by sex and education attainment persist, and few studies have disentangled their temporal patterns. This study aimed to assess the effects of age, period, and cohort (APC) on HRWL among older Korean adults, over a period of 20 years, using nationally representative panel data stratified by sex and educational attainment.

Hospital at Home (HaH) is a new care concept aimed at reducing hospital admissions by providing specialised healthcare to patients at home. The aim of this study was to compare the cost of a HaH model with traditional hospital admission for nursing home residents with acute illness in the Northern Region of Denmark.

Over 80 % of the world's population identifies with a religion, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is known about how religious affiliation and beliefs influence health insurance uptake. Faith-based organisations also play a major role in healthcare delivery, yet their contribution to financial risk protection, health insurance uptake, and universal health coverage remains underexplored.

Balancing finite resources with rising demand remains a universal challenge for healthcare systems. Organizational decision making is increasingly shaped by cost-efficiency, yet efficiency is often mistakenly equated with effectiveness. Systems may reduce costs and waiting times but still fail to improve individual health outcomes, risking population health in pursuit of financial balance. In England, efforts to curb the ballooning health budget include the dissolution of NHS England and its merger with the Department of Health and Social Care. These reforms, while aimed at streamlining services, risk eroding organizational memory-knowledge embedded in people, processes, and practices. Organizational memory guides current decisions, prevents repetition of failed measures, and supports innovation. Its loss, especially through staff attrition and restructuring, may paradoxically undermine the very improvements these reforms seek to achieve. Singapore's healthcare system offers a counterfactual example, demonstrating how effective use of organizational memory-through electronic health records, regionalized clusters, and preventive care initiatives-can lead to adaptive, efficient, and high-quality care. Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Qatar, are adopting similar strategies, using rich patient data to inform research and policy. Organizational memory is not an afterthought but a foundational asset. As healthcare systems evolve under financial, technological, and patient-centered pressures, preserving and leveraging organizational memory is essential. Reforms must be designed not only to improve efficiency but also to sustain effectiveness and ensure long-term improvements in patient outcomes.

Global efforts to reduce sodium intake are slow, especially where discretionary salt use is the main source. Few structural approaches have been developed and evaluated for effectiveness and scalability. This study assesses an mHealth-based primary school health education program delivered via the school-student-family (SSF) route.

To investigate the associations of combined healthy lifestyles and genetic susceptibility with incident chronic kidney disease (CKD), and explored the potential gene-lifestyle interactions on CKD.