Abstract
Newly formed local public health units in Victoria have been established to support a place-based approach that tailors and delivers public health initiatives and responds to public health incidents and issues. Initially, post-establishment of these units, public health activities focused on the prevention and control of communicable diseases. In 2022, mpox emerged as a global public health threat. As case numbers rose across Australia, local public health units in Victoria were engaged by the Department of Health to support a localized response to this new threat. The South East Public Health Unit, Monash Health, developed a number of targeted initiatives to control the local spread of mpox, ranging from capacity building of health professionals to increase early diagnosis, contact tracing, facilitating vaccine delivery, and community engagement. This contributed to effective local elimination within 6 months, demonstrating how LPHUs are well placed to engage with local communities and health care providers to respond rapidly to newly emerging public health threats.
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,Health Policy
Reference3 articles.
1. Monkeypox;Gessain;N Engl J Med,2022
2. Multiple lineages of monkeypox virus detected in the United States, 2021-2022;Gigante;Science,2022
3. Impacts of a measles outbreak in western Sydney on public health resources;Flego;Commun Dis Intell Q Rep,2013