The Public Health Association Australia’s Communicable Diseases and Immunisation Conference 2023 has been given insight into how the new centre will roll out.
Australia’s health chief Professor Paul Kelly has used a national communicable diseases and immunisation conference to deliver a roadmap for the nation’s first centre for disease control.
The interim ACDC, as it has been dubbed, will be established at the start of 2024 and will be based in Canberra as part of the Department of Health and Aged Care, headed initially by Professor Kelly.
“It is the government’s intent that an independent standalone ACDC will be established following the passage of legislation expected late next year, with the operational details to be worked through over the course of the next 12 months,” he said.
“No decision has been made [on] where that ACDC will be located when fully operational and a range of models are being explored including hub-and-spokes models that would allow for different nodes of expertise.”
Professor Kelly was speaking as part of the opening plenary at Public Health Association Australia’s Communicable Diseases and Immunisation Conference 2023, being held in Perth this week. He said the ACDC would be a “world-class organisation”.
“I’ve set the task for my team to make it the world’s leading organisation that will have an initial focus on preparing for future pandemics, leading the national response to infectious disease outbreaks and working to prevent both communicable and non-communicable diseases,” he said.
“The ACDC will build on existing capability within the Department of Health and Aged Care, using an all-hazards approach, fill critical gaps in Australia’s public health system by driving national data and linkages, leading the nation on one-health approaches to human health and enhancing public health equity for all people in Australia.”
The $91m worth of funding for the ACDC pledged by the federal government in the budget would support continued consultation with states and territories and other key stakeholders, as well as scoping and preparatory work for a shared national disease surveillance system, expansion of health emergency planning and preparedness and data capabilities and a review of existing health emergency government structures.
“Over the past year, the Department of Health and Aged Care has undertaken extensive formal and informal consultation to guide the establishment of the ACDC,” he said.
“We’ve talked to many international CDCs learning what to do and importantly, what not to do.”
He said the highest priority was to deliver on the government’s election commitment to bring the ACDC to reality.
“A phased approach will be taken in a sustainable manner with the centre expanding as functions, as they are settled in legislation and in consultation with the states and territories and key stakeholders,” he said.
“I keep coming back – consultation is really the key here.”
Professor Kelly said the ACDC would not be established as a research organisation and would not duplicate existing work done in the commonwealth, states and territories and non-government organisations.
“We also did not intend for it to be involved in regulation or the provision of individual health care,” he said.
“But there’s a range of things that have not yet been decided.”
This includes where the ACDC will be located; the operational model for the standalone agency; the role of states and territories, governance and “possible co-funding”; and the scope and functions of the standalone ACDC, including the role it will play in preventive health, especially with regards to non-communicable diseases.
“The mechanism and scope for a single national communicable disease surveillance system has also not yet been decided,” Professor Kelly said.
“We will be talking a lot more about the scope and functions of the CDC in the coming months.”
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, CEO of the PHAA, used his conference welcome address to urge the health community to play an active role in the ACDC’s development.
“We’ve known for more than a year that the Albanese government has committed to the establishment of the Australian Centre for Disease Control, or to put the smile on the old headbangers’ faces, the ACDC,” he said.
“Clearly the future the ACDC, whatever it looks like, its power, its responsibilities, governance, relationships, resources, capacity and priorities, will be a hot topic of conversation over the next three days.
“But I want to get in with a heartfelt plea and a challenge … the establishment of the ACDC in Australia is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“We hope it will be a beacon for improving the health of people in Australia, and beyond for decades to come. It should protect and improve the health of our children and their children, and generations beyond that.
“I urge all of you in this room and those online and anyone else who is prepared to listen to approach this task with big-picture ambition. And with the best interest of future generations.”
In a pre-recorded address, federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the idea of an Australian CDC had been floated for decades.
“And establishing one here in our own nation is long overdue, as Australia, as you know, is the only country in the OECD without a CDC or an equivalent organisation,” he said.
“All of the other countries have seen the merit in having their own CDC, and it’s something that our government will deliver, in our first term in office.”
Simon Millman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Western Australian Minister for Health and Mental Health also welcomed the ACDC in his opening address.
“Western Australia has welcomed the opportunity to collaborate in the development of the Australian CDC,” he said.
“The need for national coordination collaboration between jurisdictions and agencies was clearly evident during the responses to covid-19, Japanese encephalitis and Mpox.
“An Australian CDC will allow a cohesive national approach to help us better navigate and respond to existing and emerging diseases, and thereby safeguard public health and promote a more resilient health care system. Incorporating a one health lens to strengthen interagency collaboration and partnerships will be critical in responding to these emerging disease threats.”
