Last week, Croakey published a report raising many questions about the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control, which launched at the beginning of last month. Our survey of 11 health leaders – who mostly chose to speak off the record – identified concerns about the centre’s governance, level of independence, scope of practice, and communications and outreach.
In that report we also published the questions we’d sent the Department of Health and Aged Care arising from our survey, but did not receive a response before publication.
Today we received responses from a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Aged Care, as published below. We welcome further analysis and commentary from Croakey readers.
Q: Are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations or people being engaged in the development process? If so, how, and when?
A: Yes. First Nations organisations and people are being engaged through a range of channels including representation on Australian CDC Senior Officials Group (SOG) under the Health Chief Executives Forum and through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Protection Sub-committee of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. Engagement and consultation will continue throughout 2024.
Q: How will you ensure health equity is considered and embedded in the interim and permanent CDC?
A: The Australian CDC will embed health equity across all aspects of the Australian CDC’s work, including but not limited to governance arrangements, data and surveillance, planning and preparedness, prevention, and communication activities.
Q: What is the timeframe and plan for the phase from the interim CDC (1 January) to establishment of the permanent CDC?
A: As announced by Government, it is intended that the standalone CDC will commence in early 2025. This is dependent on the passage of legislation and other operational establishment activities.
Q: Will the interim CDC be communicating steps/outcomes to the public?
A: Yes, the interim Australian CDC website has been established to provide updates to the public on the work of the interim Australian CDC and the phased approach to establishing an Australian CDC.
Health leaders we spoke to raised the following questions.
Q: How will the CDC be governed? How will the CDC ensure it maintains independence? For example, from outside/vested interests? How will it be funded to ensure the CDC can achieve its desired outcomes?
A: The Government is considering the scope, structure and governance arrangements for the Australian CDC. Outcomes of these considerations are expected to be announced through the Budget.
Q: How is the interim CDC going to engage with the Australian community and health consumers on designing and developing the CDC?
A: A range of existing mechanisms and public forums are being utilised to inform the design and development of the Australian CDC. Broad public consultation was undertaken in 2022 and a summary report on the outcomes of this consultation can be found here.
Q: How do peak organisations become involved?
A: If peak organisations have any further enquiries about the interim Australian CDC and broader establishment activities, they can be directed to cdc.enquiries@cdc.gov.au.
The interim Australian CDC also engages directly with key stakeholders and this engagement will continue as we work towards full establishment.
Q: How was the decision made to use the One Health concept to guide the Interim CDC?
A: Adopting One Health as an overarching principle aligns the Australian CDC with leading international and domestic health organisations. This was approved by the Government in the 2023 May Budget.
One Health is recognised by the World Health Organization, G-20 Health Ministers, state and territory health, agriculture and environment departments, medical and veterinary peak bodies and other federal departments as the preferred framework through which a range of human health challenges should be approached.
Taking a One health approach means potential and emerging zoonoses can be identified sooner and their impacts to human health and national economies significantly lessened. A One Health focus can also improve food safety and security, having flow on benefits for protecting biodiversity and the worlds economy.
The value of incorporating One Health approaches across the Australian CDC has been recognised from consultation with stakeholders. In their submissions, key stakeholders advocated for the Australian CDC to adopt One Health principles.
Q: How will the interim CDC measure success?
A: The interim CDC will use tangible (e.g. KPI) and intangible (e.g. sentiment) measures to track its success as function within the Department of Health and Aged Care. These measures will be specific to each area and will be aligned to the overall benefits and objectives of the interim CDC.
Q: Concerns have also been raised that the current focus for the interim CDC appears to be on infectious diseases – while important, when will the CDC bring in non-communicable diseases?
A: The Australian CDC will be established in a phased approach which will provide scope to expand its preventive health responsibilities over time, particularly in the prevention of non-communicable diseases.
The interim Australian CDC has been established based on existing functions of the Department of Health and Aged Care related to health protection, surveillance and emergency management.
Decisions on the functions, scope, and governance of the longer term Australian CDC will be made by the Government over the coming months. Once these details are settled, there will be further clarity on the role of the Australian CDC in non-communicable disease.
Further commentary
See Croakey’s previous articles on the Australian Centre for Disease Control
