ABOUT THE 2024 CONFERENCE

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In 2024 the Conference theme will be “Protecting Communities: empowering health through Disease Control and Immunisation”.

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cast a long shadow, this conference will be oriented towards future opportunities and challenges for prevention and control of communicable and vaccine preventable diseases. We will highlight the most significant scientific advances in interventions and knowledge to inform policy and practice change. Our focus will include real world applications, including implications for programs, services and delivery.

What are the opportunities to improve what we currently do, how we can better serve those with the greatest needs and how we can build better partnerships both within and beyond Australia?

We will review the developing agenda of the Australian Centre for Disease Control and ask how we as a community can help deliver on the governments promise to increase capacity and capability for co-ordinated pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. How will we deliver on its vision of an integrated One Health approach and what changes in policy and practice will best serve the community to minimise the impact of communicable diseases?

The Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference 2024 will identify ways to share our expertise and insights, improve systems and processes and promote adaptation to an ever-changing environment. The conference will aim to help build new links and connections, cement existing relationships and maximise cooperative and collaboration. We will aim to set out the challenges and find solutions together.

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CONFERENCE TOPICS/SUB-THEMES

The program will provide lively and productive discussions and contributions from Australian professionals engaged in Communicable Disease Control and Immunisation. We invite you to submit abstracts under the following session topics:​

• Aboriginal health – determinants, strengthening communities, service delivery

• Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses; including JE and Monkey Pox

• Cross-cultural and social determinants of health, including attitudes and behaviour change

• Maternal Vaccines

• Global and regional infectious disease control and prevention; esp. Asia-Pacific, Global Nitags network

• Sexually transmissible and bloodborne infections

• One Health – broad approach - environmental, vets, one health experts

• Enteric and foodborne infections

• Communication, assessment, and capacity building

• Outbreak investigations, responses, and genomics

• Health Messaging, consumers, communication and/or engagement

• Vaccine preventable diseases, programs and implementation, emerging immunisation practices

• Influenza, Respiratory viruses and RSV vaccines

• Safety for the future, learnings from the past

• Surveillance and data systems, point of care testing, innovation diagnostics

• New vaccines – platform technology, RSV, Group B strep

• Laboratory surveillance including antimicrobial resilience

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CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

 

The objectives of the conference are to:​

• Create a dynamic environment to foster knowledge sharing, collaboration and relationship building among health professionals working on communicable disease control, vaccination, and related areas.

• Provide collective guidance and insight into capacity building and strengthening communicable disease control and Immunisation programs.

• Provide conference delegates with new and innovative ideas that can be applied to local settings and systems to help create and improve public health systems for local communities.

• Highlight the activities of relevant research programs on infectious and vaccine preventable diseases to encourage engagement in high quality research initiatives to improve health outcomes for Australians

 

TARGET AUDIENCE

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The conference will aim to facilitate conversations on improving effectiveness and efficiencies of communicable disease control and Immunisation programs through knowledge sharing and relationship building. The program must consider the needs and interests of the communicable disease audience to ensure attraction and participation to the conference.

 

​The target audience will be stakeholders able to effect and/or influence change at the systems and/or practice level including:

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• Immuniser providers

• Infectious disease epidemiologists

• Social scientists

• Public health microbiologists

• Health and medical researchers

• Laboratory scientists and pathologists

• Vaccine program managers

• Health Policy makers

• Commonwealth, state and local government representatives – Ministers/ministerial staff, and health and social sector department representatives

• Front-line responders including community health staff, public health nurses, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation staff and nurse immunisers

• NGO/community and social sector provider and advocacy organisations

• Healthcare professionals – doctors, nurses, allied health, dentistry, pharmacy, etc.