In the SMR, the notification numbers of chlamydia have been steadily decreasing in all LGAs. However, Casey, Port Phillip, Frankston, and Mornington Peninsula remain the highest reporting LGAs (see Figure 51). On average, the SMR is decreasing in reports of Chlamydia (8%), at a similar rate to the total state average (9%) and female state average (11%).

As can be seen, Greater Dandenong has the highest numbers of hepatitis B in the SMR. Bayside reported zero accounts in 2020, which increased to six in 2021. Mornington Peninsula consistently reports fewer than six cases each year. While the other LGAs appear to fluctuate each year, Bayside, Cardinia, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula consistently record low notification numbers each year, with an average overall SMR decrease of 6% from 2019-2021.

In 2021, health experts had concerns that Melbourne might be facing a gonorrhoea epidemic with increasing cases and a rising resistance to the antibiotics which are used to treat gonorrhoea.

The increase in the number of gonorrhoea diagnoses, which began in 2022, continued in the first half of 2023. Women and heterosexual men in particular contracted gonorrhoea more often. Among women, this STI was diagnosed 1,248 times, an increase of 38%.

Many of the LGAs in the SMR recorded increasing cases of gonorrhoea with Casey and Port Phillip recording the greatest numbers. In 2019, Casey recorded four times as many numbers than the state average (4.4 per 10,000) and Port Phillip recorded three times as many cases than the state average. Looking at the data from 2019-2021, there has been an overall SMR decrease of reports (5%). Furthermore, six out of the 10 LGAs had an average decrease of 12%, whereas Stonnington, Greater Dandenong, and Frankston had an increased average of 13% in reporting over the three years.

Health experts have declared a syphilis epidemic in Melbourne with a 45% increase being recorded between 2015 and 2018.

In 2022, 1,695 cases were reported in Victoria, the highest annual number of infections in more than 30 years and almost four times the 446 cases detected a decade earlier (in 2021, 1,524 cases were reported.)

Data from the Victorian Health Department’s infectious disease surveillance report showed more than 260 cases of syphilis had been detected in 2021. There has been a surge in cases among women, which has led to babies being infected with the disease in the womb and dying for the first time in Victoria in 14 years.

The increase of syphilis seen among women is particularly concerning. During pregnancy, syphilis can cause congenital syphilis which may result in “miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, low birth weight and a variety of other possible adverse consequences in an affected baby” (State of Victoria, 2021).

Since 2004, congenital syphilis has re-emerged in Victoria with two cases recorded in 2017 and 10 more since 2017 (State of Victoria, 2019; State of Victoria, 2021). Sadly, two cases have resulted in foetal death (State of Victoria, 2019).

Concerningly, in 2021, three SMR LGAs were ranked in the top 10 affected LGAs in Victoria. From 2015 to 2018, Port Phillip recorded 420 cases, Stonnington recorded 418 cases, and Glen Eira recorded 151 cases (Piovesan, 2021). The Kirby Institute’s (2018, p. 12) annual surveillance report stated:

• “The infectious syphilis notification rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2017 was highest in remote and very remote areas (171.8 per 100 000), which was 27 times as high as in the non‑Indigenous population.”
• “Over the last 10 years (2008–2017), more than half (59%) of the 44 congenital syphilis notifications were in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.”

As discussed above, the rise in syphilis throughout Victoria can also be seen in the SMR. The notification numbers of syphilis for females in the SMR between 2019 and 2021 can be seen in Figure 54, demonstrating some LGAs have had few cases in the five-year period. Greater Dandenong has consistently reported higher numbers than the other LGAs, however, decreased by 6% from 2019-2021. Port Phillip and Kingston displayed a marked decrease since 2016, with a spike in 2021. Stonnington has displayed no change from 2019-2022. On average, Mornington Peninsula and Stonnington had recorded the lowest notification numbers in the SMR (Women's Health Victoria, 2022).

In 2018, nation-wide HIV diagnoses were reported to have declined by 23% over five years (Kirby Institute, 2019). Total numbers of notifications between 2016 and 2020 in the SMR for males and females are displayed.

As can be seen, more males than females contracted HIV. Port Phillip and Stonnington have the highest numbers of HIV for males. Several LGAs have not recorded any females with HIV (Women's Health Victoria, 2022).