Our work related to preventive health

The National Medical Stockpile is a strategic reserve of drugs, vaccines, antidotes and personal protective equipment for use in national health emergencies. We purchase and stockpile these items so Australia is more self-sufficient during an emergency and able to meet high levels of demand.

We have developed this 10-year strategy to guide long-term medical workforce planning across Australia. It will improve access to health care by supporting the right people to have the right skills, where we need them most.

We developed the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy to give a high-level vision and roadmap to build a sustainable mental health workforce.

The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) coordinates data on over 70 diseases that present a risk to public health in Australia. This helps us identify trends in diseases, assess the impact of disease control programs and develop policies to reduce the impact of these diseases.

The National Nursing Workforce Strategy will establish priorities to guide the nursing workforce now and into the future. It will help address workforce challenges, foster collaboration and drive action among stakeholders in shaping the future of workforce planning, investment and reform.

The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry stores data on occupational respiratory diseases in Australia. It will help to reduce, eliminate, and improve our understanding of preventable occupational respiratory diseases.

The Real Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) is a nationally implemented system, designed to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of controlled medicines with the aim of reducing their misuse in Australia.

State and territory governments established the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) for health practitioners in 2010 by introducing consistent legislation in all jurisdictions. While NRAS is not an Australian Government scheme, it affects the health workforce across the country.

The number of cases of infectious syphilis in Australia has been rising. We are responding on a national level, working with affected state and territory governments, to control outbreaks and reduce the incidence of syphilis.

The National Return and Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Program (NatRUM) is a service funded by the Australian Government that supports the safe disposal of expired and unwanted medicines.