A multi-million dollar funding package will be rolled out to fight Australia's worst diphtheria outbreak in decades, as hospitals in the Top End feel the strain and case numbers keep rising.
The money will support the Northern Territory and Aboriginal community-controlled health services, which are on the front line of an outbreak that has seen a once‑rare disease return.
More than 230 diphtheria cases have been recorded across Australia this year - about 30 times the usual yearly average and the biggest outbreak since national records began.
About 60 per cent of cases are in the Northern Territory, with more infections in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. Almost all have been in Indigenous Australians.
The $7.2 million funding package announced by the Albanese government includes $5.2 million for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre to send extra doctors and nurses into hard‑hit communities, deliver booster vaccinations and treatment, and buy more vaccines and antibiotics.
