Outreach and engagement

Much of the IDEM team are continuing to be involved in the COVID-19 planning and response, including, Martyn Kirk (currently seconded to an epi study on returned Diamond Princess cruise passengers in Darwin), Ross Andrews, Amy Parry (seconded to WPRO to support decision making) and Katie Glass (working with team of modellers in Australia to inform current response and preparedness measures if there is sustained transmission in Australia).

In addition, MAE scholars have been actively involved in the COVID-19 response. Two MAE scholars in Cambodia assisted the Cambodian CDC with response efforts related to the Westerdam cruise ship. These efforts were commended by the Cambodian Health Minister and DFAT.  Another MAE scholar was deployed with WHO to Manila and then deployed to Malaysia to assist with risk communication associated with one of the Westerdam passengers flying in to Malaysia and testing positive for COVID-19.  MAEs based in public health units in Australia have been supporting the state and territory and national response to the developing COVID-19 outbreak. We are actively involved in situational awareness, drafting clinical and public health guidelines, participating in briefing and planning meetings with hospital clinicians and managers, the development of templates for outbreak response, and the development of fact sheets for clinicians and the general public.

Student news

Dani Cribb has started her PhD on the topic ‘factors impacting Campylobacter infections and their health burden in Australia’.  This project is continuing on the work from the NHMRC funded project ‘Understanding the Sources of Campylobacter in Australia’ (CampySource). She will also be the new NCEPH student representative on the RSPH student committee.

The 2020 cohort of MAE scholars commenced their course block in the 17^th February with 12 Australian and 5 ASEAN scholars (2 from Myanmar, 2 from Vietnam and 1 from Laos).

• During course block we have had and will have representation from ACT Health, DFAT and Commonwealth government sharing experiences with the scholars on the current local and national response to COVID-19
• Scholars will also visit the National Incident Room to see a national response in action

We have delayed 2^nd years final course block until August as many of our scholars are actively involved in preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other news

Katie Glass attended an expert elicitation workshop at Food Standards Australia New Zealand on February 19^th.  The aim of the workshop was to quantify transmission routes and vehicles for foodborne pathogens, with a focus on risks associated with fresh produce.

Progress on research projects

Katie Glass, Rhiannon Wallace, Angus McLure and Dani Cribb held the final meeting for the CampySource project on the 20^th-21^st February.   We’ve had considerable engagement from public health agencies, food regulators and industry over the duration of the project and valued their strong attendance at this two day meeting.  A key focus of this final meeting was the dissemination of findings to relevant stakeholders to inform further public health actions.