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  4. ACCESS: Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses
Access.
Access.

ACCESS: Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses

Open to students

ACCESS is a national sentinel surveillance network of sexually transmissible infections and blood-borne viruses.

Objective

ACCESS started in 2008, initially focused on chlamydia. In 2016, ACCESS received funding from the Australian Department of Health to improve coverage and capacity for monitoring testing, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV, sexually transmissible infections, hepatitis B and hepatitis C in every state and territory.

ACCESS collates de-identified data from more than 100 sexual health clinics, general practices, hospitals, community health services and pathology laboratories across Australia. Data are automatically extracted from participating services using an innovative health software called GRHANITE™, which means that after the initial setup very little maintenance is required from participating sites.

No details that could identify an individual patient are ever extracted and all extracts are encrypted using industry-leading integrity and data security technology. Patient confidentiality and data security are our highest priorities. Data collected via ACCESS are used to monitor STIs and blood-borne viruses across Australia and also for individual research projects, clinical audits, and jurisdictional surveillance. 

We are committed to giving back to our community of partners, by providing participating sites with regular data reports to help improve systems and processes and to enable their own research endeavours. 

Timeline

2007–2026.

Approach

How the system is useful for sentinel sites

ACCESS provides site specific reports that describe how many individuals were tested, the characteristics of these individuals and the proportion who test positive. This information has enhanced the capacity of sites to observe local STI and blood-borne virus trends in priority populations.

How the system is useful for state and territory health departments

ACCESS contributes to national and state specific reports by describing how many individuals were tested, the characteristics of these individuals and the proportion who test positive. This information has enhanced the jurisdictions' ability to interpret surveillance trends of blood-borne viruses and STIs. 

More information

For more information, including publications, reports, and data visualisations, visit the ACCESS Project Website.

Student opportunities

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This project is open to students

Contact the supervisors to learn more about how you can join this project.

Partners

Funding partners

Core funding is from the Australian Department of Health, with the aim to monitor Australia’s progress in the control of blood borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections.

The state governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory provide funding for state-level outcomes.  

Funding for particular outcomes is also provided by:

  • Blood Borne Virus and STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program (BRISE)
  • NHMRC Project Grant (APP1082336)
  • NHMRC Partnership Grant (GNT1092852)
  • Prevention Research Support Program funded by the New South Wales Ministry of Health. 

Collaborators

  • The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
  • NRL Quality
  • HaBIC R2: Health and Biomedical Research Information Technology Unit, Informatics Centre, The University of Melbourne
  • More than 100 participating sites across Australia

Project contacts

Main contact

Jason Asselin

Jason Asselin

Co-Head, Surveillance and Data Linkage group
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Student supervisor contacts

Dr Anna Wilkinson

Dr Anna Wilkinson

Research Fellow
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Jason Asselin

Jason Asselin

Co-Head, Surveillance and Data Linkage group
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Professor Mark A  Stoové

Professor Mark A Stoové

Head of Public Health
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Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Deputy Director, Programs; Adjunct Professor, Monash University, DEPM.
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Project team

Jason Asselin

Jason Asselin

Co-Head, Surveillance and Data Linkage group
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Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Deputy Director, Programs; Adjunct Professor, Monash University, DEPM.
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Long Nguyen

Long Nguyen

Data Manager
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Dr Thi Nguyen

Dr Thi Nguyen

Data Scientist
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Dr Victoria Polkinghorne

Dr Victoria Polkinghorne

Data programmer
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Professor Mark A  Stoové

Professor Mark A Stoové

Head of Public Health
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Dr Michael  Traeger

Dr Michael Traeger

Research Officer
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Nyssa Watson

Nyssa Watson

Research Officer
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Professor Rebecca Guy

Professor Rebecca Guy

Collaborator
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
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Dr Allison Carter

Dr Allison Carter

Senior Lecturer
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
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Dr Wayne Dimech

Dr Wayne Dimech

Collaborator
NRL Quality
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Dr Htein Linn Aung

Dr Htein Linn Aung

Collaborator
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
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Stella Lintzeris

Stella Lintzeris

Collaborator
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
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