A Huge Week for Food Allergies in Ireland
This week is a huge week for food allergies and anaphylaxis in Ireland. Two events are scheduled to take place in Dublin, both of which will encourage learning and awareness of food allergies and anaphylaxis. One is aimed at health professionals and the second at the general public.
The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) have chosen Dublin to host their Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting for 2014. The Meeting will take place from 9th to 11th October in the Convention Centre Dublin. The meeting is a coming together of multidisciplinary delegates to share information on food allergies and anaphylaxis. Clinicians and researchers will present the cutting edge of science and medicine relating to food allergies. There will be seminars and symposia on allergen biology, nutritional support and approaches to patient care. One of the meeting themes is how to move away from merely controlling a food allergy to finding a cure.
The other major allergy event in Dublin this week is the Food Allergy & Free From Expo. This is taking place in the RDS on 11th and 12th of October and is the first event of its kind in Ireland. There will also be a second expo in November in Cork. The expos are family friendly and there will be information, one to one advice, seminars and demonstrations. It should be a good chance to pick up lots of tips for living with allergies or living free from. As a parent of two children with food allergies and one with asthma I am really looking forward to visiting this one stop shop of information and advice and I’m hoping to learn plenty.
As recent as July this year, the Irish Food Allergy Network published the first ever guidelines in Ireland for allergy diagnosis and management. The HSE have only recently addressed allergy as a speciality. There has been no clear cut way to get a child diagnosed if you suspected food allergy, and the publishing of these guidelines are an enormous step in this direction. It is wonderful to see these events happening in Ireland it should translate to better experiences in dealing with food allergies on a day to day level among sufferers and it will arm our healthcare professionals with the latest scientific findings and best practice.
