Force Health Protection: Applied Epidemiology in the Australian Defence Force
Abstract
This thesis presents the projects conducted and experience acquired to fulfil the competencies for the Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE), Australian National University. From February 2019 to December 2020 I undertook an MAE field placement with the Directorate of Defence Health Policy, Joint Health Command, within the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Joint Health Command supports health capability through the provision of health care to ADF members and technical oversight of health support delivered by the Navy, Army and Air Force. The projects included in this thesis comprise of: describing the investigation of an acute respiratory illness outbreak in an ADF training establishment and estimation of vaccine effectiveness using a test-negative design; an evaluation of the ADF notifiable diseases surveillance system; estimating the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in the ADF population using data from Periodic Health Examinations and comparison with Australian general population data; and a study on the epidemiology of knee cruciate ligament reconstructions in the ADF 2012-2019 and predictors of outcome using Bayesian networks and scenario analysis. This thesis also includes a description of teaching activities on effective communication of scientific findings and COVID-19 contact tracing in different contexts, and other public health experiences completed during my placement that have contributed towards building skills and knowledge in field epidemiology. The work published in this thesis aims to demonstrate the role of applied epidemiology within the ADF by directing resources, assessing interventions, guiding policy, managing outbreaks and monitoring health and disease within the ADF population.