00:02220 cases or more recorded across Australia.
00:05The Northern Territory is still very much leading the way in terms of the number of
00:09cases.
00:09We've had 157 cases confirmed, 111 of those are the cutaneous strain of diphtheria that
00:16presents as sores on the arms and legs.
00:19More than 40 cases are the respiratory strain, which is the one that has health officials
00:25particularly concerned.
00:26Speaking earlier today was the CEO of Australia's National Peak Body for Aboriginal Community
00:33Controlled Health Organisations, Dawn Casey, and she was saying that the situation could
00:38be quite rapidly improved through this increased effort to get booster shots and vaccinations
00:44out to as many people as possible.
00:47Of course, yesterday, the federal government announcing $7.2 million to sort of expedite
00:53that vaccination effort.
00:54She did say, though, that there are still concerns that this disease will continue
00:58to spread in more remote areas where poor living conditions and overcrowding, particularly
01:03in Aboriginal communities, is a problem.
01:06The Minister for Aboriginal Australians, Malindiri McCarthy, also spoke earlier today and she
01:11said that this isn't just an issue for Aboriginal people or people in the Northern Territory.
01:16It's something that all Australians need to be really cognisant of.
01:20Take a listen to Malindiri McCarthy's message to Australians earlier today.
01:25The growing concern, national concern of diphtheria and what we are seeing in terms of the Northern
01:33Territory, Western Australia, parts of Queensland and the top of South Australia is of national
01:39concern.
01:40No one is immune from this.
01:42We must make sure that we work as a country.
01:46And Olivana, what's been the discussion around the initial response to this outbreak in the
01:51Northern Territory?
01:52Because it's actually believed it started in Queensland, I think, and then moved over into
01:56the Northern Territory.
01:58That's right, Joe.
01:59Yeah, this has been something, as you say, that has tracked back actually a number of years.
02:03It started out in Queensland and has moved quite rapidly into the Northern Territory and has
02:08really picked up speed over the last couple of months.
02:11And so the Northern Territory really has become sort of like the epicentre of this concern.
02:16And so there has been quite a bit of criticism levelled at Northern Territory Health and also
02:20the Northern Territory's Health Minister, Steve Edgington, just about the lack of communication
02:26and public messaging around diphtheria and sort of being a little slow off the mark to get
02:32the message out, particularly to all of those remote communities that need to be aware of the
02:36risk and also of the need to get vaccinated.
02:39The CEO of that National Peak Body for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations was
02:45saying that this was a concern that organisations, particularly in the Northern Territory, flagged
02:50more than a month ago and said that in the future, she thinks governments really need to be more
02:55proactive in getting on top of these kinds of outbreaks.
02:58Take a listen to what Dawn Casey had to say.
03:00We started with our Territory Government Community Controlled Health Services in Alice Springs
03:08in particular, started lobbying the government way back in early April and became, we were
03:15really concerned about how quickly it was spreading.
03:17So the government's taken, you know, a number of weeks to respond, but they have responded in
03:24a comprehensive way.
03:25They just do need to, in future, respond much more quickly than they have in the past.
03:31And Joe, the Northern Territory's Health Minister, Steve Edgington, was asked about this today
03:35and he said that, you know, there has been press conferences.
03:38He said the health department in the Northern Territory has been putting out plenty of communication
03:43about this, it is noting that the, it is worth noting that the Northern Territory's Chief
03:48Health Officer, Paul Burgess, has done quite a few appearances on the ABC over the last
03:53couple of days, although there has yet to be a press conference with Northern Territory
03:58Health and the Northern Territory's Chief Health Officer, specifically on diphtheria.
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