Presenting and learning: Insights from the Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference
This Duguid Travelling Award report is written by Antoinette White, a Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE) student in the 2023-2024 Cohort. Antoinette is a proud Palawa and Iningai woman who is passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of her Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the promotion of First Nations’ voices in Research and the Health sector.
I used the Duguid Award sponsorship to attend and present at the Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference on 11-13 June 2024 held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Meanjin, Brisbane.
My conference registration allowed me to attend several sessions and orations over the course of the conference.
I attended the following orations:
“Waning of vaccine-acquired immunity – knowns and unknowns” by Professor Peter McIntyre, Head of Department, University of Otago
The key message was that, despite the significant successes of vaccines, vaccine-acquired immunity tends to be shorter-lasting than infection-acquired immunity, with exceptions like HPV and tetanus vaccines. This waning immunity is contributing to challenges in disease control, such as the resurgence of diseases like Monkeypox, pertussis, and polio. Additionally, outbreaks of measles among infants and vaccinated young adults are occurring in countries with high vaccine coverage. New approaches, like needle-free administration, may be necessary to improve vaccine uptake and address these emerging challenges.
“The art and science of outbreak investigation to protect communities”, Professor Martyn Kirk, The Australian National University
Professor Kirk spoke about how while Australia's public health system has been effective in identifying and controlling infectious disease outbreaks, many traditional investigative methods are outdated and require modernization. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted innovative approaches, such as novel data streams, automated contact tracing, and genomic sequencing. The focus of this oration was how these advancements can enhance routine outbreak investigations to better protect communities and prevent disease.
There were so many exceptional presentations that our MAE cohort banded together to seek out and maximise opportunities to participate in as many sessions as possible.
Day 1
The day began with an opening plenary session on “Environment challenges to infectious disease control”.
It progressed with sessions addressing vaccination and immunisation, genomics, indigenous disease control in regional and remote communities, maternal health, outbreak investigations, respiratory illness, enteric diseases and public health in action.
The day finished with a Feery Oration, “Whole of society: future approach to infectious diseases prevention and control”.
Day 2
The topic for the plenary session “Tracking progress: Report Cards for Infectious Diseases” included a discussion on Whooping cough, influenza and eliminating HIV transmission in Australia.
I had to make some difficult choices on which concurrent sessions I could attend choosing vaccine-preventable diseases and Digital health and innovation.
Day 3
I was able to attend the plenary session on “Partnering for Health: One Health and the Australian Centre for Disease Control.” The take-home message from One Health was the prevention of future pandemics requires integrating wildlife health into public health strategies.
As human, livestock, and wildlife interactions increase due to climate change and urbanization, it is essential to address the critical gaps in One Health—a holistic approach that considers the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. Helen Grinbergs provided an update on the progress of the Interim CDC, which is laying the groundwork for One Health and other key capabilities in health security, standardizing public health advice, and upgrading data systems to ensure a robust public health infrastructure.
On this day I presented within the Blood-borne viruses session. I delivered a rapid fire presentation on “A Southeast Queensland evaluation of ATLAS Indigenous STI & BBV surveillance system” thus fulfilling my MAE competency of presenting the results of at least one of the MAE studies at a national or international scientific conference.