Western Association of Food and Drug Officials (WAFDO) Annual Educational Conference Assistance

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Project Summary/Abstract Western Association for Food and Drug Officials PAR-19-306 The mission of the annual WAFDO Annual Educational Conference (AEC) is to provide a venue, either virtually or in-person, where public health field practitioners and program managers, industry leaders, and academia from across the region can interact and share ideas while receiving information on current trends and emerging issues impacting public health and safety related to human and animal food, drugs, cosmetics, and medical products. The AEC agenda typically includes presentations that will give participants an opportunity to learn about state, local, national and international perspectives on all of these important public health and consumer safety topics. The annual WAFDO Conference is one of the most comprehensive and cost effective educational opportunities in the Western region (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, British Columbia, Alberta, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Mexico) that addresses the range of current public health issues facing federal, state and local regulatory programs. WAFDO keeps the cost of the conference as low as possible in an effort to allow access to the conference to the widest range of participants. The low cost of the conference enables public health professionals from all levels of the regulatory community, industry and academia to participate. The goal and objective of this application is to successfully apply for $25,000 a year for five years (2021-2026 project period, $125,000 total award) under the FDA Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (PAR-19-306) announcement so that WAFDO can:  Provide a high quality, comprehensive virtual conference for its 2021 annual educational conference.  Provide financial assistance for attendees to travel to future annual educational conferences (2022-2025) who might not otherwise be able to travel due to budget limitations or travel restrictions.  Provide attendees with appropriate printed materials and other conference resources.  Fund conference room and audio-visual equipment costs for the conference. The 2021 WAFDO AEC will be held in a virtual environment due to the prospect of ongoing COVID gathering and travel restrictions. This application assumes that future annual conferences starting in 2022 will be able to be held in person with no COVID or travel restrictions in place. If this assumption is false, WAFDO will utilize any awarded funds to defray costs associated with additional virtual deliveries. The annual educational conference will contribute to the sharing and discussion of current human and animal food, drug, cosmetic, and medical product safety topics in order to further mutual reliance between fellow public health entities and therefore move closer to a fully integrated public health and safety system.