Welcome to ODEC
The Overseas Development and Education Committee (ODEC) supports ASA members in providing anaesthesia education, training, and capacity building in low and middle-income countries.
A shortage of physician anaesthesia providers is a barrier to safe and timely surgery and obstetric care in many countries. ODEC works with Pacific and South-East Asian anaesthesia leaders to strengthen anaesthesia education, resources, and safety and advocacy in the region.
Examples of our recent work include airway teaching in the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, Essential Pain Management courses in Fiji, Lifebox capnography training in Cambodia, and academic support and supervision for anaesthesia trainees at the Fiji National University (FNU). We have ongoing partnerships with several anaesthesia societies, including the Pacific Society of Anaesthetists (PSA), to help deliver major educational events.
ODEC collaborates with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA) and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).
Please explore these website pages for more information and how ASA members can get involved in ODEC activities.
Dr Justin Burke & Dr Megan Walmsley
Chair and Vice Chair, ODEC Committee
ODEC mission statement
The Overseas Development and Education Committee (ODEC) oversees all aid, outside Australia and New Zealand, which involves ASA members or resources:
- Educational overseas aid
- Financial overseas aid
- Material overseas aid
- Skill based overseas aid
ODEC acts jointly and cooperatively with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA), the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) and other aid organisations.
The main focus of the ODEC is to support and promote anaesthesia training in the Pacific and recently South East Asia.
Over 75% of the substantial ODEC budget goes towards Pacific anaesthesia and this support has seen significant achievements.
ODEC ongoing annual contributions
WFSA Fund a Fellow Campaign. Click here for update on WFSA Fellowships and the impact they have on the provision of safe anaesthesia globally.
Read the latest Fund a Fellow update.
National Scientific Congress
The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) Uniting for Oxygen appeal. This appeal aimed to raise £100,000 to provide life-saving oxygen therapy equipment for hospitals in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. The WFSA was very grateful for a significant donation from the Australian Society of Anaesthetists. Read the letter from Dr Wayne Morriss, President-Elect, WFSA.
Read about ‘The Value of Short Courses/Service Missions: A Fiji Perspective’ as presented at ASA’s NSC in Perth, October 2017 by Dr Victor Fesaitu, Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Hyperbaric Services, CWM Hospital, Fiji Islands