AHHA is Australia’s national peak body for public hospitals and healthcare providers. Our membership includes state and territory health departments, Local Hospital Networks (LHNs) and public hospitals, community health services, Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and primary healthcare providers, aged care providers, universities, individual health professionals and academics. As such, we are uniquely placed to be an independent, national voice for universal high-quality healthcare to benefit the whole community.
AHHA supports the introduction of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and commends the government on taking on the ambitious task of establishing a long-awaited independent agency to provide leadership on communicable and non-communicable disease prevention, promotion and protection.
The scope of the CDC as outlined in the consultation paper is large. To ensure the best chance of success we encourage the Department of Health and Aged Care to refine this scope, clearly defining a distinct purpose and set of principles that will allow the CDC to lead, amplify and enhance existing capabilities, rather than duplicating existing functions. Objectives must be achievable and aligned with reasonable timeframes for implementation