February 2021
The National Allergy Strategy team recently held a planning day via Zoom to plan our activities for the next six months.
Food allergen management in food service
- To date, 29,335 people have successfully completed an All about Allergens course.
- We are currently developing All about Allergens for Schools and Childhood Education and Care (CEC) online training courses which will be released in April 2021. These two courses are based on other All about Allergens training with information specific to the school and ECEC settings including canteens, boarding schools, food technology/cooking and outside school hours care.
- We are very appreciative to the schools and ECEC service who allowed us to film and take photos to help make the training courses as useful and engaging as possible.
- The draft content will be provided to key stakeholders for review late February 2021.
- Visit the Food Allergy Aware resource hub which provides links to information for consumers, health professionals, food service staff and staff working in schools and ECEC.
250K youth project
- NEW allergic rhinitis (commonly known as hay fever) animations have been added to the 250K school aged teens and young adult websites. These short animations provide information on how to manage allergic rhinitis including how to use nasal sprays.
- Our 250K Zoom chats with school aged teens and young adults commence again in February 2021. The school aged teen Zoom chats are open to all 10-17 year olds living with severe allergy and the young adult Zoom chats are open to all 18-27 year olds living with severe allergy. Visit the 250K website for more information.
- Our 250K youth camp being held in Perth has been changed to a 250K fun day due to COVID-19 and border closures which don’t allow us to bring in peer mentors from other states. The 250K fun day will still bring together tweens and teens living with severe allergy that will engage with each other through adventure activities and education sessions with local health professionals.
To visit the 250K websites, go to: www.250K.org.au
Anaphylaxis prevention and management in schools and (CEC) project
- The National Allergy Strategy is about to commence the final stage of stakeholder consultation.
- Key stakeholders will have the opportunity to review the minimum standards along with all the supporting resources developed, in February 2021.
- We greatly appreciate the contributions from key stakeholders including staff working in schools and CEC and parents. Their contributions have helped develop and guide the standards and supporting resources.
To find out more about this project, go to: nationalallergystrategy.org.au/projects/schools-and-cec
My Health Record allergy project
- We are working with the Australian Digital Health Agency to develop a number of consumer resources that explain how to navigate the allergy information in My Health Record.
- We are also contributing to My Health Record resources for health professionals and providing information and education to health professionals working in allergy.
To access these resources or find out more about this project, go to: nationalallergystrategy.org.au/projects/australian-digital-health-agency
Food allergy prevention project (Nip allergies in the Bub)
- The Nip allergies in the Bub website continues to provide parents and health professionals with practical information about how to introduce the common food allergens.
- We are currently creating a new video about how to introduce the common food allergens which will be used in our next social media campaign. This video will feature some of the recipes from the food ideas and recipe book released last year.
- We are also running an awareness raising campaign via social media for health professionals alerting them to the Nip allergies in the Bub website and resources available for themselves and their patients.
- The infant feeding helpline (ph:1300 661 312) is available for parents, carers and health professionals.
To visit the Nip allergies in the Bub website, go to: www.preventallergies.org.au
Congratulations!
We would like to heartily congratulate National Allergy Strategy Patron, Associate Professor Richard Loh OAM, for receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia this year.
Richard was presented with the award for his service to medicine, particularly to clinical immunology.
The citation for Richard's award is available at https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2008192
FREE posters and bookmarks
The following National Allergy Strategy resources are available free of charge from the Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia website: https://allergyfacts.org.au/shop/nasr
- Nip Allergies in the Bub bookmarks
- Nip Allergies in the Bub posters
- 250K bookmarks
- 250K posters
- All about Allergens online training bookmarks
- The Usual Suspects poster (developed with the NSW Food Authority and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia)
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: nationalallergystrategy.org.au