Initiatives and Priorities 2021

ASCIA member services and benefits have continued to expand in 2021, including:

• Online communication – Each month ASCIA informs members and the community of new and updated information about allergy and immunology via emails, ASCIA e-newsletters (more than 5,000 subscribers in 2020), and social media.
• Advocacy on behalf of ASCIA members – ASCIA makes regular submissions to government and other organisations through letters, submissions and reports (see Priority 3). 
• ASCIA Annual Conference - Discounted registration is available to ASCIA members (see Priority 4).
• ASCIA online resources, education and training - To support ASCIA members, new and updated ASCIA online information is regularly developed and updated (see Priority 5).
• National Allergy Strategy resources - ASCIA members have access to new and updated allergy resources to support both them and their patients (see Priority 6).
• AIFA research grants – Only ASCIA members are eligible to apply for Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) research grants (see Priority 7).  
• Immunodeficiency resources – ASCIA members have access to new and updated immunodeficiency information, resources and collaborations (see Priority 8).
• ASCIA committees and working parties – Only ASCIA members are eligible to join ASCIA committees and working parties allergy.org.au/members/committees 
• Access to ASCIA member only resources - These include ASCIA slides, food and drug (medication) allergen challenge protocols, and draft ASCIA information. 
• ASCIA educational meetings – Only ASCIA members are eligible to attend ASCIA regional and training education meetings.
• Listing on the ASCIA website ‘How to Locate a Specialist’ section – Full ASCIA members are eligible for one or more listings on the ASCIA website allergy.org.au/patients/locate-a-specialist

2. Sustainability 

3. Advocacy on Behalf of ASCIA Members

ASCIA’s top three policy and advocacy related issues in 2020-2021 are as follows:

1. Education and Training - Support is required for accessible, consistent and evidence based allergy, anaphylaxis and primary immunodeficiency educational and training resources for health professionals, patients, carers and the community.

2. Access to Care - Improved access to timely, equitable and quality specialist and multidisciplinary care for patients with allergies or primary immunodeficiencies is needed, to improve access to funded treatments and diagnostic tests. This includes newborn screening for early diagnosis of severe primary immunodeficiencies throughout Australia (this is already available in New Zealand).        

3. Collaborations and Research – ASCIA has recently advocated for an Allergy and Immunology Research Mission to be added to the initiatives in the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) consultation, to inform the third Australian Medical Research and Innovation Priorities 2020-2022. This request has been made for the following reasons:

• There are currently no cures for allergies and anaphylaxis, which affect around one in five Australians and New Zealanders. This high prevalence and lack of a cure makes allergies and anaphylaxis major public health issues. Significant health and economic gains can therefore be made by investing in more research to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of allergies and anaphylaxis.
• Primary Immunodeficiencies (PIDs) are relatively rare and complex diseases. There is an urgent need to measure the prevalence, diagnosis and outcomes of patients with PID in Australia and New Zealand using genomic testing for genetic diagnoses, alongside conventional diagnostics, to enable the delivery of appropriate care and to estimate resource utilisation. The application of genomic technologies is changing this field and the benefits of this diagnostic advances will only be achieved in clinical and research centres with expertise in PID and translational genomics. It is also important that we understand more about the natural history and prognosis of PIDs, which requires support for registries to track the clinical course of PID, and collaborations between clinical immunology specialists and nurses with other health professionals and research collaborators. 

7. AIFA Research Grants