Protecting your health from infection

Health Protection is one of the core fields of public health.  

Health protection practice aims to prevent, assess, and mitigate risks and threats to human health. These risks come from communicable diseases and exposure to environmental hazards such as chemicals and radiation.  

The effective delivery of local health protection services requires close partnership working between UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the NHS and local government, among others. Core health protection functions expected of local health systems include: 

• Emergency preparedness, resilience, and response  
• Communicable disease control  
• Risk assessment and risk management 
• Risk communication 
• Incident and outbreak investigation and management 
• Monitoring and surveillance of communicable diseases  
• Response to public health alerts from the European Union. This is via the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organisation through the International Health Regulations 
• Infection prevention and control in health and care settings 
• Delivery and monitoring of immunisation and vaccination programmes 
• Environmental public health and control of chemical, biological and radiological hazards  

We want to protect every person in Norfolk, whatever their circumstances, from infectious and non-infectious environmental health hazards. Where such hazards occur, we want to minimise their continued impact on residents' health.  

We do this by preventing exposure to such hazards, taking timely action to respond to threats and acting collectively to ensure the best use of human and financial resources.

UKHSA Local Health Protection Teams provide specialist support to prevent and reduce the impact of health-related incidents. 

Reporting notifiable diseases and causative organisms 

For urgent Health Protection matters contact East of England UKHSA Health Protection Teams on 0300 303 8537 or EastOfEnglandHPT@UKHSA.gov.uk 

Registered medical practitioners (RMPs) have a statutory duty to notify the 'proper officer' at their local council or local health protection team (HPT) of suspected cases of certain infectious diseases. Get more information on notifiable diseases and how to report them.