Extra Qs

Question 1

What is Australia’s national EOC? How are responses to domestic, national, and international events dealt with?

Answer 1

NIR (National Incident Room)
Domestic
- Responses lie with state/territory/local governments
- Each state/territory has mandate under jurisdictional emergency legislation for prevention and management of emergencies and disasters
National and International:
- NatHealth Arrangements may be used to coordinate national health sector response
*Fall under international regulations in control of infectious diseases as per IHR

Question 2

What are the NatHealth Arrangements?

Answer 2

National Health Emergency Response Arrangements

• Australia’s highest level health sector emergency plan
• Direct how Australian health sector would work collaboratively to the response to, and recovery from, emergencies of national consequence

Question 3

What (3) things trigger an emergency of national consequence (i.e. emergencies requiring national level policy, strategy, public messaging, inter-jurisdictional assistance)

Answer 3

• Impacts/threats affected 2 or more states/territories
• Potential to overwhelm/exhaust a state territory’s health assets/resources
• Scale/complexity requires nationally coordinated response

Question 4

What are the government/administration bodies responsible for addressing public health threats/concerns? What do they do?

Answer 4

1) DoHA
- Leadership + national health sector coordination
- OHP (Office of Health Protection) is a division of this - leads prevention policy agenda at a national level, maintains NIR
2) AHPPC (Australian Health Principle Protection Committee)
- Peak national health emergency forum, responsible for high-level cross-jurisdictional collaboration (CHO from each state represented)
3) State and territory health authorities
- Each responsible for own internal coordination

Question 5

What legislation is in place to respond to public health emergencies (both national and international)

Answer 5

Commonwealth:
- Quarantine Act 1908 (prevents into of specified diseases into Aus; Governor General can make proclamation under act to authorise actions to respond to a pandemic)
National Health Security Act 2007
- Provides for exchange of public health surveillance info between Commonwealth govt, state/territories, and WHO; National Health Security Agreement supports its practical operation
International
- IHR

Question 6

What’s the definition of global health security?

Answer 6

Activities required, both proactive and reactive, to minimise vulnerability to acute public health events that endanger the collective health of populations living across geographical regions and international boundaries

Question 7

What were the four priority areas of the National Strategic Approach and supporting action plan (for syphilis) endorsed in 2017?

Answer 7

• Testing and treatment
• Surveillance and reporting
• Education and awareness
• Antenatal care

Question 8

What was the national response to the syphilis outbreak in Aus?

Answer 8

• Multijurisdictional Syphilis Outbreak Group (MJSO) of CDNA developed in 2015
• National Strategic Approach and supporting Action Plan endorsed in December 2017

Interventions:

• Opportunistic + community screening
• Immediate Rx of symptomatic people, positive tests, and antenatal screens
• Public health alerts, health protection/education/campaigns
• Active follow up of cases

Question 9

What are the important attributes of a surveillance system?

Answer 9

Simplicity
Flexibility
Data quality
Acceptability
Sensitivity
PPV
Representativeness
Timeliness
Stability