In This Issue of Occupational Medicine

This issue of Occupational Medicine also has links to a ‘virtual issue’ which explores a number of occupational safety and health issues from around the globe. The virtual issue collects together a number of previously published research papers collated by the deputy editor Dipti Patel. In the virtual issue editorial, also published in this paper issue, Will Ponsonby explains the estimated global burden of work-related disease, emphasizing that the burden is particularly heavy in low- and middle-income countries, where the health and safety law and its application are not as well implemented, and reminds the reader that the vast majority of workplace accidents and diseases are preventable [1]. The virtual issue papers examine the health and safety implications of recruitment payments in migrant workers in the construction industry in the Middle East [2]; acute respiratory symptoms among sisal workers in Tanzania [3]; the cancer incidence and mortality burden in China from occupational and environmental sources [4]; silicosis in platinum mine workers in South Africa [5]; the effect of childhood labour on final adult height in Brazil [6]; the occupational health of small-scale fishermen in Turkey [7]; the effect of job stressors on smoking cessation in Malaysian males [8]; the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in certain occupational groups in Pakistan [9]; fatal occupational injuries in northwest Russia [10]; gambling problems in casino employees in South Korea [11] and finally an international comparison of women’s occupational health issues in six countries in Asia and North America [12]. As pointed out by Ponsonby, the virtual issue highlights the diversity of issues internationally in occupational health, indicating that there remains a huge amount of work globally to research the causes of work-related ill-health and that, although many of the problems are the same as the developed world, industry and governments in the developing world should work together to improve occupational health outcomes. The collected research in the virtual issue also emphasizes the international nature of Occupational Medicine and the research we receive from almost every country in the world.

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