Australia’s active hospital-based surveillance for severe childhood disease
The PAEDS program of research was approved by The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Human Research Ethics Committee on 11 April 2018. The updated ethical framework was designed to better distinguish between surveillance activities that operate under a waiver of consent and linked research activities that require consent, ultimately streamlining ethics and governance processes and improving the transparency of all activities undertaken within the project.
Currently 10 study arms are approved under the PAEDS program. These include acute flaccid paralysis, intussusception, varicella zoster virus, pertussis, acute childhood encephalitis, influenza, invasive meningococcal disease, invasive group A streptococcus disease and our most recent conditions, Kawasaki disease and Gram-negative blood stream infections.
Six PAEDS sites are approved under the National Mutual Acceptance Scheme: The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (NSW), The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne (VIC), Monash Health (VIC), Perth Children’s Hospital (WA), Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide (SA) and Queensland Children’s Hospital (formerly Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital) (QLD). Royal Darwin Hospital (NT) received approval for the PAEDS program from The Northern Territory Department of Health and Menzies School of Health Research. Thank you to the research officers at The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and The Northern Territory Department of Health and Menzies School of Health Research for all their support and guidance throughout this important process.
