The Public Health Unit – Disease Control provides clinical services, including screening and contact tracing, for sexual health, blood-borne viruses, tuberculosis, leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases in the Northern Territory (NT).

The Public Health Unit – Disease Control provides policy and clinical guideline development for these diseases and has offices in the five major urban centres of the NT.

The pages in this section contain information about these Disease Control programs and units:

• sexual health and blood borne viruses unit (SHBBVU), including the syphilis register
• trachoma program
• tuberculosis and leprosy unit
• medical entomology
• rheumatic heart disease program
• safety and injury unit.

Information for the general public on diseases, influenza, immunisation, needle and syringe programs and STIs can be found on the Northern Territory Government website's health and wellbeing pages.

Our role

The Public Health Unit – Disease Control has a core role monitoring disease outbreaks and running vital preventative health programs including:

• the development and implementation of the Territory's immunisation program, which provides advice and education to health staff and the public on immunisation.
• surveillance for more than 90 notifiable diseases and mounting the necessary public health responses, including the management of outbreaks
• under the guidance of the community paediatrician, the Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) Program provides important support for the diagnosis and long term management of those with RHD
• the Trachoma Program is working in partnership with a national program towards the elimination of trachoma
• the Safety and Injury Unit researches and develops policy on injury prevention
• Medical Entomology undertakes mosquito surveillance and environmental management of disease-carrying and other nuisance insects.

Contact

To contact the Public Health Unit – Disease Control or one of its programs and units go to Public Health Unit – Disease Control contacts.