AVA contributes to the Australian CDC roadshow consultation meeting

The AVA was represented by Dr Andrea Britton and Dr Sandra Steele at the first Australian Centre for Disease Control consultation workshop. The purpose of the meeting was to provide feedback on the draft consultation paper: The Role and Functions of an Australian CDC. The AVA will also be providing a written submission on the consultation paper.  

At the meeting the AVA was clearly able to articulate: 

• The importance of integrated One Heath governance systems within the CDC, including the need to think about how disciplines would work in an integrated way (i.e: how will One Health be operationalised)
• The importance of a One Health approach due to the inter-relationships between human, animal and ecosystem health, particularly in the areas of disease emergence and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). This included the role of risk mitigation at source in pandemic/outbreak prevention, and the vital roles of veterinarians and other disciplines such as social scientists and ecologists
• The necessity for relationship building between disciplines to strengthen integration
• The need for inclusion of community consultation (including indigenous groups)
• A concerning decrease in the availability of VPH/Vet epidemiology training at a postgraduate level through universities and the potential of growing issues in provision of veterinary training nationally – this is critical to address, as the need to train veterinarians in the maintenance of strong animal biosecurity and surveillance to strengthen a One Health approach to emerging infectious disease is essential
• The cost benefits of a One Health approach

Synthesis of feedback from the workshops as well as submissions made with respect to the draft consultation document will occur in December 2022-Jan 2023, with the aim to release a draft establishment plan in January-March 2023 before the next federal budget in May 2023.

We will keep you posted on how this progresses.