SmartStartAllergy

SmartStartAllergy is an exciting collaboration between SmartVax and the National Allergy Council and is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation. SmartStartAllergy is an SMS tool that encourages parents to introduce the common food allergens by the time their baby is 12 months of age to help prevent food allergies from developing.

How does SmartStartAllergy work?

Once switched on, the allergies module will run automatically alongside the vaccination monitoring and reminders modules.

Parent participation is voluntary, and they can opt out at any time. Parents will receive a text message when their baby is 6, 9 and 12 months old to find out if they have introduced solid foods (including peanut) and, in subsequent messages, if their child has had an allergic reaction.

Parents will also receive a brief smartphone questionnaire to find out about any allergic reactions, family history of allergy and if the child has eczema.

What Happens With The Information?

The de-identified data will support the National Allergy Council’s Food Allergy Prevention Project to better understand this important issue and to improve support to GPs and parents. GPs will be notified of the more serious reactions via the GP Inbox in their clinical software.

For more information email the SmartStartAllergy team.