The ACCESS project is a national health surveillance network of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs), which started in 2008. ACCESS was initially focused exclusively on chlamydia, but in 2013 expanded to encompass other STIs and BBVs as well. In 2016, ACCESS received funding from the Australian Department of Health to improve coverage and capacity for monitoring testing, diagnosis, and treatment of STIs, HIV, and Hepatitis B and C in every state and territory.
Our success in this endeavour relies on meaningful collaborations with participating sites. 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 BBVs across Australia and also for individual research projects, clinical audits, and jurisdictional surveillance. We are also 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.
Click here to view the ACCESS Information Sheet.
ACCESS receives core funding from the Australian Department of Health with the aim to monitor Australia’s progress in the control of sexually transmissible infections and blood borne viruses. In addition, the 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 the Blood Borne Virus & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program (BRISE), an NHMRC Project Grant (APP1082336), a NHMRC Partnership Grant (GNT1092852), and the Prevention Research Support Program, funded by the New South Wales Ministry of Health.