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Role
The National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee (NTAC) has an ongoing role to
- consolidate tuberculosis related activities including
- enhanced national surveillance of epidemiological control indexes
- drug resistance and treatment outcomes
- provide strategic expert advice to the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) on a coordinated national and international approach to tuberculosis control
- develop, review and implement national strategic plans for the control of tuberculosis in Australia
- align strategic direction to be broadly consistent with the World Health Organization’s strategies to reduce the global burden of tuberculosis.
Members
NTAC brings together representatives from:
- tuberculosis programs across Australia
- nurse managers with tuberculosis expertise
- public health physicians
- clinicians practicing in tuberculosis clinics
- thoracic physicians and infectious disease physicians
- the Australian Centre for Disease Control
- the Public Health Laboratory Network
- Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ Paediatrics and Child Health Division
- Australian Government Department of Home Affairs
- Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Protection Subcommittee of the Australian Health Protection Committee.
Jurisdictional members
| Member | State | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Justin Denholm (Chair) | Vic | Victorian Department of Health |
| Dr Simone Barry (Deputy Chair) | SA | South Australia Health |
| Dr Chris Coulter | Qld | Queensland Health |
| Ms Ellen Donnan | NSW | New South Wales Health |
| Dr Marianne Turner | ACT | Australian Capital Territory Health |
| Dr Vicki Krause | NT | Northern Territory Health |
| Dr Alison Ratcliff | Tas | Tasmanian Department of Health |
| Dr Alison Keed | WA | Western Australia Health |
Australian Government representatives
| Member | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Dr Gary Lum | Australian Centre for Disease Control |
| Dr Anthony Moore | Australian Centre for Disease Control |
| Mr Edward Huddy | Australian Centre for Disease Control |
| Ms Lila Caplice | Australian Government Department of Home Affairs |
| Dr Grant Pegg | Chief Medical Officer, Australian Government Department of Home Affairs |
| Ms Camilla Burkot | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade |
Organisational representatives
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Professor Vitali Sintchenko | Public Health Laboratory Network |
| Dr Vikas Goyal | Paediatric specialist, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service |
| Dr Megan Campbell | The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Protection Subcommittee of the Australian Health Protection Committee (AHPC) |
| Vacant | Regional engagement specialist |
Meetings
NTAC meets 3 to 5 times a year.
Related committees or groups
NTAC is a subcommittee of the Communicable Disease Network Australia (CDNA) and works with:
- Public Health Laboratory Network (PHLN)
- Communicable Diseases Genomic Network (CDGN)
- Tuberculosis Data Quality Working Group.
Publications
NTAC publishes its guidelines and position statements in the Communicable Diseases Intelligence journal:
- See annual reports on tuberculosis notifications in Australia in the Communicable Diseases Intelligence journal
- Consensus statement on the use of a four-month treatment regimen for drug susceptible tuberculosis in children (under 10 years of age) with uncomplicated disease, 2022
- Not everything that can be counted counts: defining and evaluating tuberculosis mortality in Australia, 2022
- The use of whole genome sequencing for tuberculosis public health activities in Australia: a joint statement of the National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee and Communicable Diseases Genomics Network, 2023
- The Strategic Plan for Control of Tuberculosis in Australia, 2021–2025, 2022
- Position statement on interferon-γ release assays for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection, 2017
- National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee Guideline: Management of tuberculosis risk in healthcare workers in Australia, 2017
- National position statement for the management of latent tuberculosis infection, 2017
- Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2014, 2017
- Infection control guidelines for the management of patients with suspected or confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis in healthcare settings, 2016
- Defining a tuberculosis cluster or outbreak, 2016
- Essential components of a tuberculosis control program within Australia, 2014
- The BCG vaccine: information and recommendations for use in Australia, 2013
- National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee multi-drug resistant tuberculosis information paper, 2007
- Guidelines for Australian mycobacteriology laboratories, 2006.