Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and local authorities have addressed this global crisis by increasing investment, making public policies, enhancing individual health awareness, and improving public health facilities and services (1). Indisputably, the coronavirus pandemic has not only contributed to considerable progress in the field of public health and medical education, but also exposed a host of issues within the public health system. After years of public health system reform, disseminating health knowledge, optimizing basic health service delivery, cultivating medical talents, and reforming medical education still need continuous exploration.

Health promotion refers to activities that enable individuals and communities to improve their health and overall wellbeing. A fundamental and integral component of health promotion is health education. Specifically, individuals and communities health outcomes are determined by the interplay of social, economic, and cultural factors, which can be positively shaped by effective health education (2).

Over the past decades, the significance of health education and prevention has been increasingly recognized. However, existing health education systems face multiple limitations, including inequalities between developed and developing countries as well as between urban and rural areas. For example, despite substantial improvement in the availability of prevention tools and effective treatment, responses to the sexual and reproductive health remain suboptimal, particularly in some regions of Africa (3). An institution-based cross-sectional study demonstrated that the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) remains under-utilized among female sex workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is attributed to their limited knowledge of PrEP, lack of targeted education, and restricted access to PrEP services (Berhe et al.). Furthermore, it is striking that even medical students in Pereira, Colombia, exhibited a high prevalence of risky sexual behaviors, with only one third expressing willingness to undergo sexually transmitted infections (STI) screening (Loaiza-Guevara, et al.). Beyond sexually transmitted infections, maternal mortality and severe morbidity are also prominent women's health issues. In developing countries, the maternal mortality rates are even 15 times higher than those in developed nations (4). Derbew et al. demonstrated that husbands' limited knowledge of obstetric danger signs in Ethiopia may contribute to the delays in recognizing the danger signs and seeking timely health care.

In addition, health education interventions have been shown to play a major role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases including cancer. Currently, cancer screening services are offered by medical institutions at all levels. However, due to insufficient education and limited awareness of cancer, only a minority of the urban residents are willing to undergo cancer screening, with the majority opting for county-level or lower-level medical institutions (Chai et al.).

Visual impairment (VI) is another global health concern, ranking behind only cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Although VI can be prevented or slowed with timely intervention, eye care has been neglected over the years (5). A report from the developed country U.S. puts forward suggestions that healthcare workers provide relevant education to individuals experiencing visual change, thereby effectively preventing VI within communities, neighborhoods, and broader society (Powers et al.).

Collectively, the above findings indicate that health education level is one of the key factors in improving health outcomes. Then, how can health education be effectively promoted on a broader scale? It is well-accepted that due to the strong learning abilities, college students play a crucial role in the dissemination of health knowledge. In China, a separate study assessed the current knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among college students regarding foodborne diseases, an important public health issue. Contrary to expectations, these students had insufficient level of knowledge, moderate level of practices, but positive attitudes toward foodborne diseases (Ma et al.). Similar results have been observed in two additional large-scale KAP surveys on physical activity-related injuries (PARI) and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. Results showed that students' attitudes toward PARI and CPR were, respectively, neutral and positive, which may be explained by varying levels of understanding (Kong, Zhu et al.; Qin et al.). However, most students still revealed low knowledge levels, highlighting the urgent need to implement public health educational interventions and allocate relevant resources in university environments. To address this challenge, Central South University innovatively applied the Delphi method to construct PARI-focused public health education programs for undergraduates. This initiative advances the development of health literacy and the establishment of proactive health management among young adults (Kong, Xu et al.).

Currently, the primary sources of health education encompass healthcare professionals, mass media, educational materials and school education (6). Among these, the media play an outstanding role in sharing healt-related information. In China, short-video platforms (e.g., TikTok, Bilibili, and Kwai) are experiencing rapid growth, owing to the sociality, interactivity, vividness and originality of short videos. Nevertheless, a cross-sectional study on the information quality of H. pylori-related videos across three platforms revealed that the content and quality of the videos were suboptimal (Lai et al.). Short videos produced by health professionals tend to offer more accurate, high-quality, and reliable guidance on disease prevention and treatment. In the future, short-video platforms should be refined to prevent the propagation of misinformation through online social networks. Furthermore, more professionals should be encouraged to release authoritative and credible short videos.

As the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end, countries worldwide have shifted their public health policies from confronting the pandemic to enhancing the health of the entire population. Moreover, the onset of COVID-19 substantially accelerated the formulation and implementation of evidence-informed health policy regarding primary health care provision and community-based interventions.

With the support of relevant public policies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) during the early stages of the pandemic. In this program, communities serve as core components to facilitate collaboration between clinical researchers and social scientists (7). Through dynamic exchanges between community and academic experts, CEAL initiative has successfully fostered trust in science, countered misinformation, and advanced health equity in communities (Pons-Calvo et al.).

Consequently, the primary public health system has relatively improved in some countries. However, the majority of developing countries continue to encounter challenges in providing access to essential primary health services for economically disadvantaged and/or low-educated populations, especially in resource-limited settings. For example, Iraq's healthcare landscape has shifted from a hospital-centered model to a community clinic-centered service model. Nevertheless, significant inequalities in health-seeking behavior (HSB) impede individuals' access to high-quality primary healthcare (Mkhailef Hawi Al-Tameemi et al.). Similarly, evidence from Ethiopia shows that low maternal income and limited educational achievement hinder mothers' acceptance of healthcare professionals' recommendations, leading them to prefer receiving care from traditional healers at home rather than seeking more specialized medical services (Fenta Abebe et al.). As a result, when maternal referral is required, up to half of the referral practices prove unsatisfactory due to the lack of professional medical services, poor transportation access, and long travel time. Therefore, the government and public health officials can reduce health service disparities by designing more targeted and effective interventions to address economic and educational gaps, coupled with efforts to enhance individuals' health awareness.

It has been widely acknowledged that the primary goal of medical education is to train qualified healthcare professionals who will improve the public health. However, medical education currently confronts a series of challenges such as insufficient training of emergency response ability, inadequate integration of interdisciplinary knowledge, and a lack of humanistic education (8). Accordingly, a growing number of medical education institutions have been carrying out reforms in higher medical education system.