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 events, courses, workshops and ongoing projects

ASA guidelines on humanitarian work

There are many opportunities for ASA, NZSA and ANZCA members and Fellows to work and teach overseas. Anaesthetists often ask for advice as to how to select and assess possible trips.

This document aims to provide Fellows and members with some broad principles to help with their deliberations.

ODEC milestone achievements 

• 1984 – ASA’s first grant in aid to Dr Kester Brown
• 1985 – Overseas Aid sub-committee (OAC) is founded and $3 per ASA member fund is allocated to OAC programs
• 1989 – The Refresher Course – annual South Pacific Anaesthesia academic meeting
• 1994
  • Anaesthesia Training Programs at the Fiji School of Medicine in Suva
  • 1st biannual Micronesian Anaesthesia Refresher Course (MARC)
• 1997 – 2003
  • 1st First Primary Trauma Course in Fiji
  • Introduction of the ASA Pacific Fellowships
• 2006
  • OAC approves project funding for Mongolia
  • Dr David Pescod is awarded the Order of Mongolia in 2010
• 2009
  • Lifebox Interplast partnership
  • SE Asia projects in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar
  • 3 x Pacific Fellowships
  • ASA – Fiji National University MOU signed in 2011
  • ASA Volunteer Database
• 2003 – 2018 ongoing projects in:
  • Fiji
  • Timor Leste
  • Mongolia
  • Laos
  • Cambodia – 20th ASEAN Congress of Anaesthesiology
  • Myanmar
• New projects in:
  • Bhutan
  • Solomon Islands (SIATC)
  • Samoa
  • SAFE (Safer Anaesthesia from Education) Obstetrics Courses introduced in Samoa, Fiji and PNG

Read the History of ODEC feature article written by Dr Chris Bowden, ODEC Chair and published in the March edition of the Australian Anaesthetist 2018.

ODEC ongoing annual contributions

• Lifebox
• WFSA Fund a Fellow Campaign. Click here for update on WFSA Fellowships and the impact they have on the provision of safe anaesthesia globally
• National Scientific Congress

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

Pacific Fellowships

• ASA increased funding to include a 3rd Pacific Fellow in 2017
• Fiji Fellowships – 4 Fellows have spent time in Suva at the Fiji National University
• Timor Leste Fellowship – Dr Chris Lack published in the AA
• Solomon Islands Fellowships – joint ASA/RACS/WFSA project – Dr Haydn Perndt and Dr Phil Blum providing mentorship
• Dr Eric Vreede – awarded ASA Medal at the Real World Anaesthesia Course (RWAC) for his services to anaesthesia development in Timor Leste

Read an Overview of the ASA Timor-Leste Fellowship published in the Australian Anaesthetist, September 2017

Observerships

ODEC also supports funding for two Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) Observerships.

Are you an ASA member? Sign in to the ASA members site to read the ASA Corporate Travel Details – including DFAT.

Contact ODEC