It’s estimated that around 15 million people suffer from a food allergy in America alone and it is a growing international health problem.

The World Allergy Organization (WAO) is an important part of addressing this problem. It’s an international alliance of 89 regional and national allergy, asthma, and immunology societies, and through collaboration with its members, it provides a wide range of initiatives related to clinical practice and service provision in order to better understand and address the challenges facing allergists/immunologists worldwide.

As well as being the current President of WAO, Dr Lanny Rosenwasser has, until recently also been Editor-in-Chief of WAO Journal, which became open access under his editorship last year. Now though, he’s handed over the reins to Dr Alessandro Fiocchi, Director of Allergy at the Pediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù in Rome, Vatican City. An expert in the field of food allergy, with publications covering the fields of food allergy diagnosis, follow-up, epidemiology, specific immunotherapy, and childhood asthma, Dr Fiocchi has big plans for the journal.

“The World Allergy Organization Journal is a global platform to exchange opinions, publish comparative studies among the different world regions, and share research that the authors wish to make available to a wide readership,” he says. “The journal’s intercontinental nature makes it the ideal home for global allergy research.”

Also new for 2014, Dr Erika Jensen-Jarolim, who has served on the WAO Journal Editorial Board, is now filling the newly established role of Deputy Editor, to focus on the journal’s developing area of basic science. The journal hopes to increase the amount of basic research articles, such as the recent study looking at airway remodeling in rats.

Dr Jensen-Jarolim says: “Allergy is a global clinical problem, but the answer to it lies in the allergen molecules. Only when understanding the mechanisms will we have a chance to prevent, diagnose and treat allergies in our patients in an optimal way.”

This increased focus of WAO Journal towards basic science reflects the growing need for research into allergy. So make sure you look out for the new basic science articles, as well as reviews and WAO position papers, in WAO Journal by registering to receive email article alerts.