Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is an autoimmune disorder resulting from Group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis or impetigo in children and adolescents, which may evolve to rheumatic heart disease (RHD) with persistent cardiac valve damage. RHD causes substantial mortality and morbidity globally, predominantly among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, with an interplay of social determinants of health and genetic factors determining overall risk. ARF diagnosis is based on a constellation of clinical and laboratory features as defined by the 2015 Jones Criteria, although advances in molecular point-of-care testing and the ongoing search for ARF biomarkers offer the potential to revolutionise diagnostics.

Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disease burden, affecting more than 3 billion people worldwide, and the second leading cause of death.1 The burden of neurological disorders is increasingly recognised as a public health challenge, which will only increase in the coming decades due to population ageing. Important advances have been seen in recent years in diagnosis and understanding of pathology underlying neurodegenerative diseases, with the first disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease now approved in some regions of the world.

In 2017, we called for multisector public health initiatives to address discrimination and violence against transgender and non-binary communities, offering tangible recommendations for protecting the rights, safety, and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people.1 Since 2017, notable advances in transgender rights have emerged in parts of Asia and Europe, including bans on conversion therapy in India, legal gender recognition in Hong Kong, and the provision of gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Axial spondyloarthritis manifests as a chronic inflammatory disease primarily affecting the sacroiliac joints and spine. Although chronic back pain and spinal stiffness are typical initial symptoms, peripheral (ie, enthesitis, arthritis, and dactylitis) and extra-musculoskeletal (ie, uveitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis) manifestations are also common. Timely and accurate diagnosis is challenging and relies on identifying a clinical pattern with a combination of clinical, laboratory (HLA-B27 positivity), and imaging findings (eg, structural damage on pelvic radiographs and bone marrow oedema on MRI of the sacroiliac joints).