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June 2020

It has been a busy couple of months for the National Allergy Strategy. We have managed to continue to progress almost all our work despite the challenges faced due to COVID19.

Parliamentary inquiry into allergies and anaphylaxis

The National Allergy Strategy welcomes the Walking the allergy tightrope report tabled Monday 15 June, by Mr Trent Zimmerman MP, chair of the committee which conducted a parliamentary inquiry into allergies and anaphylaxis. The National Allergy Strategy also acknowledges the support provided by the Hon Greg Hunt, Minister for Health in progressing the inquiry.

The recommendations tabled in the report address many of the key issues that the National Allergy Strategy believes are important to improving the management of allergic diseases in Australia.

Click here to view the National Allergy Strategy media release and access the report.

Food allergy prevention project (Nip allergies in the Bub)

Food allergy prevention project (Nip allergies in the Bub)
  • A second social media campaign through Mamamia is in its final week. Reports show that this has been a very successful campaign.
  • Another social media campaign is scheduled for August 2020 and this will focus on continuing to include the common food allergens in the baby’s diet once introduced.

Look out for new information coming soon:

  • Additional information about the importance of continuing to feed the common food allergens to babies once introduced.
  • Downloadable information sheets for parents including food ideas.
  • A new recipe booklet to help parents introduce the common food allergens and keep them in their baby’s diet.

Free Nip allergies in the Bub bookmarks can be ordered by health professionals for patients from the Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia website.

To visit the Nip allergies in the Bub website, go to: www.preventallergies.org.au

250K youth project

250k eczema
  • NEW – eczema and allergic rhinitis information has now been added to the 250K school aged teens and young adult websites.
  • NEW – information about our peer mentors is now available on the 250K school aged teens website.
  • We are about to commence the next stage of peer mentor training via zoom video conferencing later this month.
  • Our zoom chats with young adults continue to be run every 3 weeks and our school aged teens chat forums are undertaken every 4 weeks. In addition to this, we also conduct separate zoom chats with our peer mentors.
  • COMING SOON – a new ‘How allergies work’ animation for the 250K websites.
  • A new project is the development of eczema and allergic rhinitis animations for both the 250K school aged teens and young adults websites.
  • We have established a new 250K working group to help guide our 250K projects. The members are Maria Said and Merryn Netting (Project co-leads), Sandra Salter (UWA researcher), Melanie Wong (clinical immunology/allergy specialist) and Robyn Willis (psychologist).

To visit the 250K website, go to: www.250K.org.au

Food allergy management in food service project

  • The NAS food allergy management in hospitals resources have been updated and uploaded to the NAS food allergy training website:
    https://foodallergytraining.org.au/resources/hospitals
  • An All about Allergens in Healthcare course is currently being reviewed by stakeholder organisations.
  • A national survey of food allergen management resources has been undertaken in partnership with the Allergen Collaboration.
  • NEW – a series of short videos showing people with allergies and parents how to choose appropriate foods and prepare and store foods appropriately for food allergy were developed by the National Allergy Strategy and recently featured as part of the Food Allergy Week run by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia.
    To view the videos go to: foodallergyeducation.org.au/videos
Food storage video

The Food Allergy Aware resource hub provides links to information for consumers, health professionals, food service staff and staff working in schools and early childhood education and care. To access the National Allergy Strategy food allergy aware resource hub, go to: www.foodallergyaware.org.au

Food Allergy Aware 2020

My Health Record allergy project

  • We continue to progress this project to encourage clinical immunology/allergy specialists and consumers to utilise My Health Record and ensure that allergy and adverse reaction information is accurate and up to date.
  • A series of fact sheets for clinical immunology/allergy specialists have been developed and we are co-hosting a webinar specifically for clinical immunology/allergy specialists, with the Australian Digital Health Agency on Tuesday 16 June
  • Information for consumers has also been developed and is available from the National Allergy Strategy website.
  • To access current resources or find out more about this project, go to: nationalallergystrategy.org.au/projects/australian-digital-health-agency
My Health Record Digital Project

Stay informed about the National Allergy Strategy

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter to stay informed or visit the National Allergy Strategy website: www.nationalallergystrategy.org.au