On March 16 of this year, the Second National Congenital Syphilis Roundtable was held in Sydney.  Convened by ASHM and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), it brought together more than 80 senior representatives from federal and state governments, along with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), research institutions, frontline clinical services, and professional colleges.

Building directly on the recommendations of the 2024 First National Congenital Syphilis Roundtable, this year’s Roundtable sought to:

• Identify the structural and operational barriers limiting progress to the elimination of congenital syphilis in Australia
• Leverage successful jurisdictional and community-led approaches to preventing and managing syphilis
• Strengthen workforce, data and governance systems
• Build consensus on priority actions that can be activated within the next 12 months
• Develop a clear roadmap for coordinated national implementation efforts across jurisdictions and sectors.

Eight interconnected priority areas of action were identified as the pathways needed to eliminate congenital syphilis. These included:

• Governance: Partnership-based governance models that embed shared decision-making between government and ACCHO sector organisations
• Antenatal care access: Community-led, culturally safe models of care to improve engagement and reduce barriers to accessing care
• Perinatal and neonatal care: Standardised Neonatal Management Plans for all pregnant people diagnosed with syphilis to prevent fragmented care and missed diagnoses and treatment, along with an expanded cascade of care surveillance
• Testing: Ensuring a “no-wrong door approach” and an urgent addressing of the fact that national antenatal syphilis testing guidelines have not been consistently adopted at facility level
• Workforce: Expanding scope of practice, embedding syphilis content into professional training, and sustaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and Health Practitioner-led models of care to meet demand and reduce persistent workforce challenges
• Data and surveillance: Strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification in pathology datasets, transitioning antenatal syphilis testing to mandatory reporting within the National Perinatal Data Collection and improving data-sharing with private pathology providers to identify gaps across the testing and care continuum
• Medicines supply: Improved demand forecasting, expanded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) listing, and proactive inventory management are urgently required
• Communication and stigma reduction: A national, coordinated communication strategy is needed to raise community awareness of syphilis, normalise testing, and reduce stigma.

Through a sustained, coordinated, and well-resourced effort across governments, health services, and communities the elimination of congenital syphilis in Australia is achievable. Read the report in its entirety, including the 25 proposed actions.