00:00In remote Alice Springs, two men hitting the road for some tough conversations.
00:07Is this his mum's house? I'm not sure.
00:11As syphilis continues to spread in Central Australia,
00:14the local Indigenous Health Service is working to track down known cases
00:19and provide vital education and treatment.
00:22A lot of men don't really understand STIs or sexual health itself.
00:29So give them education so they can learn and understand it.
00:34Syphilis was almost eradicated in Australia
00:37until a 2011 outbreak in Queensland spread to the NT,
00:41where at its peak in 2018,
00:43the per capita rate was more than five times higher than the other states.
00:48Yeah, the need is quite high and we're still seeing numbers.
00:51It's not dropping.
00:53Syphilis can be cured with a simple penicillin injection,
00:56but early symptoms often go unnoticed,
00:59and Shane keeps many from seeking testing.
01:02No one really wants to talk about sex, but we all do it,
01:06so we have to try and get past that stigma.
01:11Untreated syphilis can significantly impact several organ systems,
01:15and there have been 30 congenital syphilis deaths nationwide since 2016.
01:21Every death is preventable and it's tragic.
01:24The federal government has pledged about $126 million in this year's budget
01:29to help tackle the spread of STIs,
01:32including funding for point-of-care testing.
01:35But many local health leaders say remote regions like Alice Springs
01:39lack adequate staffing to deliver this important preventative health care.
01:44Although we've got funding for primary health care,
01:46we've got a workforce crisis.
01:48That's our biggest problem now.
01:49In the meantime, these men hope they can create change,
01:52one conversation at a time.
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