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Barwon Health / Barwon South West Public Health Unit

(03) 4215 4000

Public Health Priorities

Victoria's Local Public Health Units (LPHUs) work with the Department of Health (the department) to keep their local communities healthy, safe and well.

They use local knowledge, community-based relationships and direct engagement to effectively tailor and deliver public health initiatives and respond to incidents and issues within their local area.

LPHUs were established in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to manage local cases and outbreaks of COVID-19. From July 2022, LPHUs have begun undertaking additional public health responsibilities for various other notifiable conditions.

LPHUs administer programs for disease prevention and population health. This includes responding to COVID-19 and other infectious disease case investigations, outbreaks and public health programs that impact their region.

The integration of the following communicable diseases from Department of Health to Barwon South West Public Health Unit started on 18 July 2022.
Contact Tracers at the Barwon South West Public Health Unit now provide a regional public health response and can engage with consumers to support a personalised and holistic model of care.

Communicable diseases that have been integrated to date include: Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Pertussis, Mycobacterium Ulcerans, Varicella (chicken pox), Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, Hepatitis B and hepatitis C. 

Last Modified: Monday, 20 February 2023