From the editor

Our Journal, published by The President Stanisław Wojciechowski State University of Applied Sciences in Kalisz (PWSZ) and the Health Promotion Foundation, was founded in 2015. Today, we are proud to present our readers the sixth issue, with which the JHI is entering a new stage in its development.
On 9 March 2018 one of the JHI founders, and its Editor-in-Chief, Professor Andrzej Wojtyła, was elected the new Rector of the PWSZ. Professor Andrzej Wojtyła is a medical doctor and public health activist. In the years 1980-1991 he worked as a paediatrician in the district of Kalisz. In 1992, during the presidency of Lech Wałęsa, he was appointed Minister of Health and Welfare by the first democratically elected Solidarity government in Poland. Between 1994 and 1996 Professor Wojtyła studied health service management at Georgetown University in Washington DC. After returning to Poland Professor Wojtyła served as an MP and Senator in the Polish Parliament. He performed many functions in the state administration: he was Deputy Health Minister, Chief Sanitary Inspector, as well as the chairman of the Public Health Committee in Parliament. Later, for many years he was the director of the Institute of Rural Medicine in Lublin.
Professor Andrzej Wojtyła’s principal goal is to foster in Kalisz an academic centre of excellence, not only providing a quality education to PWSZ students, but also training scholars with developing a scientific and research hub in our Alma Mater. One of the first decisions of Professor Wojtyła as the new Rector of PWSZ was to reactivate the European Observatory of Health Inequalities. This research centre will have as its primary aim the development of collaborative projects with leading research institutions in Poland and internationally. The Journal of Health Inequalities has therefore now become an integral part of the growth strategy of a dynamic academic institution, and a fundament of its scientific evolution.
Let us turn to the content of our June 2018 issue. Our lead article was authored by Mark Parascandola, a renowned epidemiologist and public health expert, and Program Director at the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, in Bethesda, MD, USA. Dr Parascandola spent the first half of 2018 undertaking a research visit in Poland, and he has accepted the invitation of the JHI editors to prepare an article discussing the impact of air pollution on the health of Poles. In recent years the problem of air pollution has become increasingly perceived as one of the most urgent public health problems in Poland. Dr Parascandola’s article constitutes an important contribution to this scientific debate, and we hope it will encourage other researchers to continue the discussion in the next issues of JHI.
Another characterising feature of our new issue is the geographical diversity of the publications. Apart from the contribution of Dr Parascandola, an American scholar, we are also pleased to present an article discussing the problem of renal disease in French Guiana, research on chronic hepatitis C in Slovakia, and an overview of the progress and continuing challenges in tobacco control in Ukraine. We are proud that the JHI is becoming a hub for publishing research dealing with health inequalities not only in the Central and Eastern European region, but increasingly also globally. We are certain that the new ambitious goals set by Professor Andrzej Wojtyła for PWSZ, as well as for our Journal, will help us further improve our editorial work and attract even more quality contributions in the future issues.
Finally, we would like to welcome on board Ms. Ewa Wasielewska, who will be joining our editorial team in August 2018.