The National Allergy Council is a partnership between the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA), funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care to implement the National Allergy Strategy. As partners in the National Allergy Council, we work together to improve the lives of 5 million Australians with allergic conditions by:

• Developing accessible, consistent and evidence-based resources
• Improving awareness and knowledge through resources and support
• Promoting resources, support and quality allergy healthcare services

We work with patients, carers, community, health professionals and the health system to make a positive impact on the management of allergic conditions. 

ASCIA’s main role in the National Allergy Council includes implementation of the following projects, supported by funding from the Australian government:

• Schools/Childcare project – to provide and promote anaphylaxis and allergy education and training for people working in schools, children’s education/care services and the community.
• Shared Care for Allergy project - to provide and promote anaphylaxis and allergy clinical resources, education and training for health professionals, including promotion of patient/carer support organisations.
• Drug (Medication) Allergy project - to provide and promote drug (medication) allergy clinical resources, education and training for health professionals.

Achievements for activities allocated to ASCIA in 2024-2025 and activities due for completion in 2025-2026 are outlined below.

National Allergy Council Schools/Childcare project - achievements for activities allocated to ASCIA in 2024-2025:

• Development of a new ASCIA training website https://training.ascia.org.au/, updating of ASCIA's learning management system (LMS) and updating of course content to enhance the user experience, improve access and increase use of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for schools, children’s education/care and community.  
• Development of a new ASCIA Anaphylaxis Training Refresher Video www.allergy.org.au/ascia-videos for schools, children's education/care and community, based on feedback from course participants and the content of ASCIA anaphylaxis refresher e-training courses. 
• Increased promotion of ASCIA anaphylaxis online training for schools, children’s education/care and community, through the ASCIA website, e-newsletters, distribution of brochures and social media,  resulting in 110,216 course completions in 2024, an increase of 23% compared to 2023.
• Evaluation reports www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#nacscec based on feedback surveys (completed by 43,945 users in 2023 and 5,254 users in 2022) from ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for schools, children's education/care and community. 
• Ongoing maintenance and support of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for schools, children's education/care with 2,119 help requests received and resolved in 2023 and 1,058 help requests received and resolved from January to June 2024.

The following activities are due for completion in 2025-2026:

• Evaluation reports based on 110,216 feedback surveys from 2024 ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training course completions  for schools, children's education/care and community. 
• Development of a scoping report for undergraduate education/training for people studying to work in schools and children's education/care. (Due March 2025).

National Allergy Council Shared Care for Allergy project - achievements for activities allocated to ASCIA in 2024-2025: 

• Funding support for 5 health professional education and training initiatives www.allergy.org.au/national-allergy-strategy through an EOI process. 
• Development of a new ASCIA training website https://traininghp.ascia.org.au/, updating of ASCIA's learning management system (LMS) and updating of anaphylaxis course content to enhance the user experience, improve access and increase use of ASCIA anaphylaxis and allergy e-training courses for health professionals. 
• Increased promotion of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for health professionals through the ASCIA website, e-newsletters, social media and medical events, resulting in 14,011  course completions in 2024, an increase of 150% compared to 2023.
• Evaluation reports www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#scap based on feedback surveys (completed by 1,730 users in 2023 and 1,176 users in 2022) from ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for health professionals. 
• Increased promotion of ASCIA resources through the ASCIA website, e-newsletters and social media, with a reach of more than 12,000  followers/subscribers each month and more than 3 million website pageviews each year (~250,000 each month).
• Increased promotion of ASCIA resources through participation in 12 medical events throughout Australia (including Healthed conferences and webcasts) with a total of more than 14,000 delegates www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#sca, to promote ASCIA education, training and clinical resources. 
• Promotion of patient/carer organisations by updating of more than 100 ASCIA patient/carer educational resources www.allergy.org.au/patients including changes to improve readability. 
• Development and promotion of ASCIA Quicklinks www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/quick-links to improved access to more than 400 ASCIA online education, training and clinical resources.
• Application submitted for MBS food challenge item number. www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/info-updates/ascia-application-for-mbs-item-for-supervised-oral-food-challenges
• Initiating the development of an ASCIA referral toolkit www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergy-and-clinical-immunology-services to address issues relating to the process of referring patients to and from allergy services. 
• Accreditation of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training for health professionals (2025 version) by the RACGP (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) and PSA (Pharmaceutical Society of Australia).
• Ongoing maintenance and support for ASCIA e-training courses for health professionals.

The following activities are due for completion in 2025:

• Further accreditation of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training for health professionals (2025 version)
• Promotion of patient/carer organisations by updating of all ASCIA health professional resources. https://www.allergy.org.au/hp/ 
• Evaluation reports based on 14,011  feedback surveys from 2024 ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training course completions for health professionals. 
• Resubmission of application for MBS food challenge item number. (Due 28 March 2025) 
• Development of a scoping report for undergraduate education/training for people studying to work as health professionals. (Due March 2025).
• Updating of the ASCIA Food Allergy Course for Dietitians to include online webcasts and in-person case-based learning to be held during the ASCIA Annual Conference week. 

National Allergy Council Drug (Medication) Allergy project 

The following activities are due for completion in 2025:

• Development of a new ASCIA drug (medication) allergy etraining course for health professionals.
• Development of other ASCIA drug (medication) allergy resources, including penicillin antibiotic allergy delabeling guidelines and drug allergy terminology, working in collaboration with the National Allergy Council.
• An application to MSAC for an MBS item number for drug challenges.

Visit the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care website to learn how the National Allergy Council (a partnership between ASCIA and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia) collaborate with the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE).

The National Allergy Council works together with NACE to help improve allergy care and research in Australia. Allergic diseases are one of the country’s major public health challenges. The collaboration is supported by funding from the Australian Government.

This news item was issued on 18 November and updated on 17 Feburuary 2025 by Jill Smith, CEO of ASCIA, the peak professional body for clinical immunology and allergy in Australia and New Zealand.