In my Editorial in January 2023, I discussed the role of deception in war and peace. 1 While deception is accepted military strategy, such as in Operation Bertram in the lead up to the second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, attempts to intentionally or non-intentionally deceive in medicine have the potential to cause great harm to public health. 2 In 2023, focus was on anti-vaccine claims directed at the COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines. 3 While these claims have continued, they have now extended to other vaccines, with significant falls in childhood vaccination rates in Australia. This has contributed to the resurgence of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases in Australia and other parts of the world, and the inevitable serious disease and, on rare occasions, deaths. This misinformation and disinformation is ‘deeply rooted in anything but scientific knowledge and reasoning’3, and highlights the ongoing importance of both establishing the evidence-base and actively addressing misinformation and disinformation that is being promulgated. Through the Journal, we should be both striving to enhance that evidence base and addressing the increasing false information.
Our second issue of 2025 contains a range of articles on diverse topics spanning physical training, operational healthcare, naval medical history, infectious disease, mental health, and veterans’ health. We continue to attract a good range of articles, including from overseas, as is demonstrated in this issue. Other military and veterans’ health articles, however, are always very welcome, and we would encourage all our readers to consider writing on their areas of military or veterans’ health interest. We would particularly welcome papers based on presentations given at the Brisbane 2024 ICMM conference or planned for our 2025 conference, but welcome any articles across the broader spectrum of military health.
Dr Andy Robertson, CSC, PSM Commodore, RAN Editor-in-Chief
