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Two smartphones on a purple background, one showing the Australian Immunisation Handbook loading screen and the other displaying the app’s navigation menu and categories.

Department of Health

The Australian Immunisation Handbook

Impact area

Health and wellbeing

Services

Experience and product design

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Immunisation saves lives

Worldwide, immunisation prevents around 2.5 million deaths each year. Australia has one of the most comprehensive publicly funded immunisation programs in the world. Because of this success, many vaccine-preventable diseases are extremely rare in Australia.

The Australian Immunisation Handbook guides health professionals in the safe and effective use of vaccines. It’s an authoritative source used in everyday work by nurses, GPs and many other health professionals all over the country. Affectionately known as the “immunisation bible”, it has a long history as a 500+ page printed book and, more recently, a website.

But for health professionals on the move, it’s not always easy to carry a heavy book or search a website on your phone. This was an opportunity to enhance the value of the Australian Immunisation Handbook even further, making it more accessible when people need it most.

A collection of past printed Australian Immunisation Handbooks and related immunisation booklets arranged on a table.Close-up of a printed Immunisation Handbook with numerous coloured sticky notes marking key sections.
Two people reviewing and sorting printed pages on a desk, shown in a purple-tinted photograph.

Designed with and for Australian health professionals

The Department of Health engaged Folk to research, design and build a new mobile app for the Australian Immunisation Handbook.

Folk worked closely with the department, stakeholders and end users in a user-centred process. The design team consulted with health professionals to understand their needs and context of use, and to test prototypes of the new app. By focusing on the end user, the team made sure the content, design and functionality of the app would support health professionals’ specific needs in the many different environments they work in.

Folk worked with content partner Biotext and technology partners Telstra Purple and Morpht to deliver the app across a range of devices.

Interaction model diagram for the AIH mobile app, showing navigation structure from global dashboard to aggregates, items, and components.

The result is a new, free mobile app that gives health professionals access to the latest immunisation guidance on their smartphone or tablet.

A doctor holding a tablet showing the pertussis information page from the Australian Immunisation Handbook, speaking with a colleague.

Familiar interface

The mobile app is designed to work alongside the website to provide a consistent and familiar user experience. This makes the content quicker and easier to access, whether on a smartphone, tablet or desktop computer.

Simple search

Health professionals often know exactly what vaccine information they’re looking for. To help them find specific content more easily, the mobile app features a simple and powerful search functionality.

Six icons showing design principles: scalable, feasible, familiar, consistent, learnable, and quick access.
Close-up of UI design guidelines for the Immunisation Handbook digital system, including typography treatments and layout components.

Offline access

Many health professionals work in areas such as regional and remote communities, where internet access can be difficult. To meet this need, the app’s content is reliably available offline, extending the ability to access up-to-date guidance anytime, anywhere.

Mobile phone, tablet, and desktop views of the Australian Immunisation Handbook interface displayed on a purple background, showing menus and disease search screens.
Three smartphone screens showing the Immunisation Handbook app listing in the App Store, including preview images and app description panels.

Single source of truth

Both the app and the website source their content through the GovCMS platform. GovCMS works as a single source of truth. It simplifies and streamlines content production and publishing, making it easier to incorporate new evidence in regular updates.

For a health workforce on the move, the new mobile app is reliable and easy to use. It delivers the right information, right at hand, when they need it most.

Multiple tablet screens laid out in a grid, each displaying different sections of the Australian Immunisation Handbook app interface with purple headers.

Download on the App Store or Play Store

The new app is now available for free download on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store


Visit the website

https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au

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