Health protection and infectious diseases
The borough of Rochdale has historically performed well in terms of immunisation and vaccination, achieving nearly the 95 per cent uptake target in some of the programmes. Like England as a whole, however, performance has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and uptake has declined slightly across the board.
What is health protection?
Health protection refers to actions we might take to protect the population's health from major incidents and other threats (NHS England, 2021). This is achieved through a number of programmes from vaccinations to sexual health screening, antibiotic prescription monitoring, other types of screening and the monitoring and actions around outbreaks of disease.
Types of vaccines available
There are a number of vaccines that are routinely offered to everyone for free on the NHS. These are mostly administered during childhood, particularly in the first few months and years after birth. They are also primarily given to high-risk population groups such as the elderly, healthcare workers, pregnant women and people with long-term conditions (NHS, 2018).
Some travel vaccines can also be accessed in a local surgery, but others may only be available privately. Reductions in antibiotic consumption are a target across all levels of government in order to support the Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy.
Less common infectious diseases
NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised services to deal with around 100 less common infectious diseases to ensure that people receive high-quality care whilst safeguarding against the spread of diseases.
Statistics on health protection and infectious diseases
- Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Health protection profile - the Health Protection Profile covers a range of health protection issues, with information on various infections but also interventions to reduce infection such as immunisation. The profile includes sections on immunisation, respiratory infection, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, healthcare-associated infections and environmental hazards.
- Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Tuberculosis Strategy Monitoring Indicators - this Public Health England tuberculosis monitoring profile contains data and information on incidence, treatment, drug sensitivity and testing.
Guidance and information on health protection and infectious diseases
- National Institute of Health and Social Care Excellence (NICE) guidance - Communicable diseases - NICE has produced a number of documents covering health protection including guidance on antibiotic use, healthcare associated infections, HIV and AIDS, immunisation, infectious disease prevention and control, meningitis and tuberculosis.
- Local Government Association - Tackling tuberculosis: local government's public health role - the Local Government Association have produced this report on tuberculosis that aims to help local authorities in their efforts to control and take action on it. It includes information on risk factors, prevention, treatment and resistance and recommendations.