Information updates

Updated 2025 versions of red ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis and orange ASCIA First Aid Plans for Anaphylaxis are now available on the ASCIA website www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/ascia-action-plan-for-anaphylaxis 

Minor updates have been made in response to recent changes regarding adrenaline (epinephrine) devices:

• Anapen^® 500 is listed on the general and Anapen^® versions of red ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis and orange First Aid Plans for Anaphylaxis from 2025 onwards, as Anapen^® 150 and Anapen^® 300 are no longer available in Australia.

• The word “device” has replaced “injector” to enable ASCIA resources to remain relevant* when other types of adrenaline devices become available in Australia and New Zealand. The green ASCIA Action Plan for Allergic Reactions and dark green ASCIA Action Plan for Drug (Medication) Allergy have also been updated with this change.

*This is most important for the orange ASCIA First Aid Plan for Anaphylaxis which is due to be translated (the last translations were made in 2017).

The updated 2025 plans have been included into the new ASCIA Anaphylaxis Training Refresher Video for schools, children’s education/care and community which takes less than 20 minutes to watch.

To ensure consistency, all ASCIA anaphylaxis resources will be updated in 2025 with the changes noted above, including ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses.

ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis are emergency response plans for severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). 

Major updates were made in the 2023 versions, and only minor updates have been made to the 2025 versions:

ASCIA Action Plan Anaphylaxis 2025 What's New394.55 KB

ASCIA First Aid Plan Anaphylaxis 2025 What's New417.12 KB

Prior versions (2023) will still be valid for use in 2025. Information about what was updated in the 2023 plans is available at www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/info-updates/new-2023-versions-of-ascia-action-plans-for-anaphylaxis  

ASCIA Action Plans do not expire, and therefore the plan is still valid beyond the recommended review date, which is a guide for patients to see their doctor. They are medical documents that are completed (patient details can be typed into text fields at the top) and signed by the treating doctor or nurse practitioner.  

For more information about ASCIA Action Plans go to www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/action-plans-for-allergic-reactions-faq

Implementation of National Allergy Council Schools/Childcare project (supported by funding from the Australian government) including the following achievements for activities allocated to ASCIA in 2024:

• Evaluation reports 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. www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#nacscec
• Development of a new ASCIA Anaphylaxis Training Refresher Video for schools, children's education/care and community, based on feedback from course participants and the content of ASCIA anaphylaxis refresher e-training courses. www.allergy.org.au/ascia-videos
• 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 projects are due for completion in 2025:

• Evaluation reports based on 2024 feedback surveys in ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses 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 date extended to March 2025).
• Updating of ASCIA website and e-training learning management system (LMS) to improve the user experience (US) and user interface (UI) for patients, carers, schools, chidren's education/care and community.

Implementation of National Allergy Council Shared Care for Allergy project (supported by funding from the Australian government) including the following achievements for activities allocated to ASCIA in 2024: 

• Funding of 5 health professional education and training initiatives through an EOI process. www.allergy.org.au/national-allergy-strategy
• Evaluation reports 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. www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#scap
• Updating of more than 100 ASCIA patient/carer educational resources to promote patient/carer organisations and improve readability. www.allergy.org.au/patients
• Improved access to more than 400 ASCIA online education, training and clinical resources through development and promotion of ASCIA Quicklinks. www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/quick-links
• Participation in 12 medical conferences with more than 14,000 delegates, to promote ASCIA education, training and clinical resources. www.allergy.org.au/ascia-reports#sca
• 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).
• 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
• Planning for development of an ASCIA referral toolkit. www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergy-and-clinical-immunology-services 
• RACGP accreditation of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training for health professionals (2025 version).
• Ongoing maintenance of ASCIA e-training courses for health professionals.

The following projects are due for completion in 2025:

• Further accreditation of ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training for health professionals (2025 version)
• Updating of ASCIA health professional educational resources to promote patient/carer organisations. 
• Evaluation reports based on 2024 feedback surveys in ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for health professionals. 
• Development of ASCIA anaphylaxis refresher training video for health professionals, based on feedback from course participants and the content of ASCIA anaphylaxis refresher e-training. 
• Resubmission of application for MBS food challenge item number. (Due March 2025) 
• Development of a Scoping Report for undergraduate education/training for people studying to work as health professionals. (Due date extended to March 2025).
• Updating of ASCIA website and e-training learning management system (LMS) to improve the user experience (US) and user interface (UI) for health professionals.

Implementation of National Allergy Council Drug (Medication) Allergy project (supported by funding from the Australian government)

The following projects are due for completion in 2025:

• Development of new ASCIA Drug (Medication) Allergy etraining course for health professionals.
• Development of other drug allergy resources, working in collaboration with the National Allergy Council.

ASCIA supporters are invited to participate as a sponsor in the ASCIA 2025 Conference, which will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from Tuesday 2^nd to Friday 5^th September 2025.

Please refer to the ASCIA 2025 Conference Sponsorship Prospectus for sponsorship options and the exhibition floorplan, which is available here

The ASCIA 2024 Conference was a highly successful event, with record delegate numbers and feedback. In 2025 we will make some changes based on this feedback, to further improve delegate participation in the exhibition hall and sponsored sessions.

The ASCIA 2025 Conference will continue to provide an international standard of CPD for ASCIA members and other health professionals working in clinical immunology and allergy. It will also provide an opportunity for important in-person interactions.

The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI), are hosting the third Global Collaborative Online Allergy Symposium which takes place on Friday 17^th January 2025 at 08:00 – 18:10 GMT and ASCIA members are invited to participate.

The Global Collaboration will be in partnership with the World Allergy Organisation (WAO), the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI),and The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and guest partner society Allergy Society of South Africa (ALLSA) 

Programme and Registration

Click here to view the 2025 programme, speakers and to register your place, and book by Monday 16^th December to take advantage of the Early Bird discount.

The cutting-edge programme will focus on the clinical state-of-the-art and highlight recent guidelines and consensus papers. BSACI will present challenging clinical cases with sessions interspersed with two industry presentations. The ‘Ask the Presidents’ session will be a LIVE Q&A discussion with all the Presidents on the most important aspects in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, on a global scale.

EAACI complimentary one-year membership
Those who register for the symposium will be given a one-year complimentary EAACI membership (details of this offer will be sent to delegates after the symposium).  Please note, this offer is not applicable for those who are already EAACI members.

CME Points
This Global Symposium will earn you CME points! BSACI are in the process of applying to AAAAI who is accredited to provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for physicians by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). So, even more reason to sign up! 

This is a unique opportunity to join BSACI, WAO, AAAAI, EAACI, and ALLSA for this online global collaboration.

ASCIA’s role in the National Allergy Council Shared Care for Allergy project is to facilitate anaphylaxis and allergy education and training for health professionals, and to promote patient/carer support organisations. This is being achieved in several ways, including:

• Development and updating of ASCIA educational resources to include weblinks to patient/carer support organisations at the top of each topic.
• Promotion of new and updated ASCIA educational resources through newsletters and social media.
• Participation as exhibitors in 12 medical conferences throughout Australia (with more than 14,000 delegates) to promote educational resources with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia and National Allergy Council staff.

Medical conference participation in 2024 has enabled ASCIA to:

• Reach a widespread audience of health professionals, in addition to newsletters and social media.
• Promote updated ASCIA educational resources for patients/carers and health professionals through printed ASCIA Quicklinks.
• Engage with health professionals and receive feedback to assist in future development and updating of ASCIA educational resources.

Promotion of ASCIA Quicklinks

In response to feedback from ASCIA members and to coincide with medical conferences starting in March 2024, ASCIA Quicklinks was developed.

The aim was to promote improved access to ASCIA website information using QR codes in an A4 format which can be printed or accessed from the ASCIA website:

• In 2024 ASCIA Quicklinks have been promoted at 12 medical conferences held throughout Australia attended by more than 14,000 health professionals.
• ASCIA Quicklinks were promoted and included in presentations at the ASCIA 2024 Conference, with very positive feedback from ASCIA members who routinely use and share this resource.
• More Quicklinks (on the reverse side of Quicklinks) promotes links to other resources. This was developed in response to feedback from health professionals attending the HealthEd Adelaide Women's & Children's Health Update in March 2024. This demonstrates that ASCIA staff interacting with health professionals facilitates better anaphylaxis and allergy education.

The positive response from ASCIA members and other health professionals to ASCIA Quicklinks has exceeded expectations. This resource is proving to be extremely useful in patient consultations and waiting rooms.

ASCIA Quicklinks are widely used by ASCIA members and other health professionals, which is reflected by increased visits to the ASCIA website.

Read the report here

Identifying the main concerns of people living with allergic rhinitis (hay fever) will help set priorities for future research.

Allergic rhinitis is usually caused by allergy to pollens, dust mites or furry animals, and symptoms include an itchy nose, watery eyes, sneezing or blocked nose.

You are invited to participate in a survey and have your say if you are a:

• Teenager or adult living with allergic rhinitis, or
• Parent/carer of a child 6 years and over with allergic rhinitis.

This project involves an online survey, with an option to join a virtual zoom workshop.

The survey link is here and the closing date for responses is 30 November 2024.

This research is led by the QUT Allergy Research Group in collaboration with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, and has been approved by the QUT Ethics Committee 8618. If you have questions, please contact Dr Karolina Bednarska via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Further information about allergic rhinitis is available at:

https://theconversation.com/why-do-i-have-hay-fever-i-didnt-have-it-as-a-child-239409

https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergic-rhinitis-hay-fever-and-sinusitis

CHOICE study coordinators are looking for clinicians to join them in an international multi-centre academic project, which looks at factors that drive the prescription of allergen immunotherapy in real-life clinical settings.

Study title: CHOICE = “Criteria Used by Health Professionals on the Selection of Allergen Immunotherapy in Real Clinical Practice: an international E-survey”.

National CHOICE study coordinators: Prof Connie Katelaris AM, Head of Immunology, Campbelltown Hospital, Dr Narinder Kaur, Clinical Immunologist and Allergist, Dr Margaret Li, Allergy and Immunology Fellow, SCHN.

To be a part of this project, clinicians are required to complete a quick 10-minute web-based survey about current practice when prescribing allergen immunotherapy and also a short questionnaire for each patient that you are prospectively planning to commence on allergen immunotherapy.

All data will be anonymous and stored securely. For further information, please see the PDF information sheet for clinicians  Clinician Information Sheet672.98 KB

If you are interested, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your contact details, as well as your current practice setting. If you are working in a public hospital, please include your head of department in the email. We will be in touch with the next steps.

An ASCIA Report on Highlights 2023-2024 is on the ASCIA website https://www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/highlights

This three page Report comprises:

• General highlights, including "More than 3 million annual pageviews (~250.000 per month) of the ASCIA website"* 
• Ten year milestones 2014-2024, including "ASCIA establishing AIFA to support medical research in 2014"**
• ASCIA National Allergy Council projects, including "Funding of health professional education and training initiatives in 2024"***

*More than 3 million pageviews of the ASCIA website

Annual ASCIA website visits continued to increase, with more than 3 million pageviews (~250,000 per month), 2 million sessions (visits) and 1.9 million users (unique visitors) from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. www.allergy.org.au  The ASCIA website continued to be reviewed and updated, with more than 50 new resources developed and more than 100 resources updated.

**ASCIA established AIFA to support medical research

Generous donors and sponsors have enabled the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) to award over $790,000 to 46 research projects since 2014. Since 2021, lead research project investigators who received AIFA grants have presented at the ASCIA Annual Conference AIFA Symposium.

***Funding health professional education and training

ASCIA is facilitating improved access and timely delivery of quality allergy education and training initiatives to upskill health professionals, as part of the National Allergy Council Shared Care for Allergy project. In 2024 ASCIA invited Expressions of Interests (EOIs) from ASCIA members for funding of initiatives. ASCIA received 18 EOIs and 5 were selected for funding. https://allergy.org.au/national-allergy-strategy

More highlights are available here