Volume 5 Issue 1 (April 2006)
Martin Fitzpatrick, Associate Editor
The World Health Organisation Health Evidence Network in a recent report on the effectiveness of empowerment to improve health stated:
“Within the last decades, social exclusion, disparities and absolute poverty – almost three billion people living on less than US$ 2.00 per day – have grown despite globalisation and rising per capita income in many developing nations. Income ratios of the richest 20 per cent of the population to the poorest 20 per cent are now at 82 to 1 compared to 30 to 1 in 1960. World-wide health disparities are increasing due to vulnerability to disease from severe malnutrition, rapid re-emergence of water and blood borne infectious diseases, environmental degradation, disinvestment in health infrastructure and violence. Within the same period, empowerment strategies… have become prominent paradigms within public health for reducing these disparities.”
The topics covered by this issue of the Journal reinforce the argument that research is an important tool in empowering individuals and groups to make informed decisions that directly impact on their health and well being, and can aid policymakers in being facilitators of that empowerment.
In this issue, Meredith, Haslum and Lewis explore ways in which people construct their ideas about food hygiene and safety. Their results indicate that good intentions are not always matched with skills or knowledge to make improvement possible. Their findings strongly focus on recommending skills-building as an important health promotion intervention.
Ekosse et al. provide an important insight into the pulmonary health status of a population living in the vicinity of the Selebi-Phikwe nickel-copper mine in Botswana.
Michael Howard, in his paper on occupational contact dermatitis in hairdressing workers, suggests that increasing awareness of the issue and resultant action has borne fruit. While hairdressers are major suffers of the disease, rates appear to be falling as a result of environmental health interventions.
Tayser AM Abu Mourad provides a clear example of how research can be a positive agent for change in a paper dealing with how an environmental health awareness promotion intervention resulted in a considerable decrease in self-reported parasitic disease in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
By way of comparison, Erdal and Berman in their research identify an occupational group of metal sculptors and artists in the United States who may well benefit from intervention to reduce their exposure to a variety of occupational risk factors.
As well as all this, we also offer two book reviews dealing with trade and environment in the context of EU enlargement, and a handbook of health research methods.
Encouragingly, as the scope of papers in this issue illustrates, the Journal continues to attract contributors from many fields and from across the globe. Enjoy the read.