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

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. 

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.