It gives me great pleasure and enthusiasm to welcome you to the special issue of Acta Medica Philippina - Workplace and Environment Safety and Health Issue. The occupational medicine and occupational health and safety activities primarily focusing on preventing diseases, injuries, and deaths due to working conditions. While exposure to harmful substances and or activities can happen at any time, I believe there are always some measures to ensure that no one has to suffer a work-related injury or illness because of their job.
In this special issue, we published several articles including papers from the 13th Indonesia Occupational Medicine Updates, covering research on important aspects of occupational health and safety in the Philippines and Indonesia. The impacts of psychosocial hazards and shift work, the potential biomarker of effect on cardiovascular risk, pesticide exposure among farmers; and key statistics and trends in occupational injuries and traffic accidents in the Philippines are featured in this issue.
I sincerely hope this work will be of interest to our readers and meet the real needs of the scientific community, stimulates thought, and eventually open up new research ideas.
Finally, as special editor of this special issue, I would like to thank the authors who have worked very hard to prepare and revise the articles and to all reviewers for their careful reviews, and for providing valuable and constructive comments.
Jen Fuk Liem, MD Department of Occupational Health and Safety Faculty of Medicine and Health Science Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana Jakarta, Indonesia
The role of occupational medicine in the response to the coronavirus outbreak: the Tunisian Occupational Health and Safety Institute's experience
