Public Health

Northland DHB Public Health Unit

The Public Health Unit is one of only 12 Units in New Zealand and is the largest and main provider of public health services for Northland.

Its primary aim is to provide a highly responsive and effective public health service to the people of Northland. The service comprises health protection, health promotion, public health nursing including child and family services, community paediatrician, immunisation and vision and hearing.

The Public Health Unit delivers public health services to the greater Northern region through contracts with the Ministry of Health. The public health sector ensures that potential risks to the health of the population are monitored, managed and promoted by:

• Monitoring our environment to ensure risks to the health of the public are managed
• Licensing organisations and premises as required by regulation
• Enforcing public health legislation, including investigating complaints and taking appropriate action
• Providing environmental advice for the Government and local bodies on an as required basis
• Advocating for policy change at national, regional and local level
• Being involved in policy development at national, regional and local levels
• Promoting the development of physical and social environments that are conducive to good health
• Raising public awareness of health related issues
• Developing and managing population based screening programmes
• Working with communities and the wider health sector to develop and establish public health programmes
• Assisting schools with the implementation of the health and physical curriculum and the development of a health promoting environment
• Working with the media on public health issues
• Training professional, community workers and youth peer educators

Specific contracted programmes under public health relate to: communicable disease control in Northland, food and nutrition, tobacco programmes, alcohol and drug programmes, non-communicable diseases (asthma, melanoma), injury prevention programmes, sexual health programmes, community development programmes, physical environments, health promoting schools, environmental health, child and family, cervical screening/register, peer sexuality, immunisation coordination, child abuse, school based and community promotion programmes.
Public Health also includes the role of the Medical Officer of Health.