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Public Health Act

LAWS OF TUVALU
2008 REVISED EDITION

CAP. 28.36

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

Arrangement of Sections
Section

1 Short title
2 Interpretation
3 Regulations

Supporting Documents
ENDNOTES

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC HEALTH^[1]

Commencement [1st December 1926]

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1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Public Health Act.

2 Interpretation

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires —

"sanitary district" means any such part of Tuvalu as may be declared and defined by the Minister to be a sanitary district for the purposes of this Act;

"sanitary inspector" means any such person as may be appointed in writing by the Minister to be a sanitary inspector under this Act and includes any medical officer;

"infectious disease" means cholera, plague, yellow fever, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, croup, puerperal fever, dysentery, measles, mumps, whooping cough, leprosy, typhus fever, meningitis in all its forms, tuberculosis in all forms, poliomyelitis, yaws in all its forms, gonorrhoea and other venereal diseases, and any other disease which the Minister may from time to time by notice declare temporarily or permanently to be an infectious disease^[2] for the purposes of this Act.

3 Regulations

(1) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of protecting and advancing the public health of Tuvalu and in particular as regards the following —

(a) latrines, dustbins and drains;

(b) scavenging, cleaning and disinfecting;

(c) the removal and disposal of night-soil and house refuse;

(d) the abatement of nuisances injurious to public health;

(e) the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases including the segregation, isolation and removal of persons suffering from any such disease or of persons who have been in contact with any such persons;

(f) regulating the carrying on of any trade declared by any such regulations to be an offensive trade;

(g) regulating the sale of milk;

(h) securing the cleanliness and freedom from pollution of tanks, vats, cisterns and other receptacles for storing water used or likely to be used by man for drinking or domestic purposes, and for the purification of water intended to be used in commodities offered for sale;

(i) regulating or prohibiting the use of any rain, stream, well or other water supply and for the prevention of the pollution thereof;

(j) common lodging-houses;

(k) bakehouses;

(l) mosquitoes;

(m) the protection of food offered for sale;

(n) the manufacturing for sale of aerated waters;

(o) slaughter-houses; and

(p) laundries.

(2) Any person who acts in contravention of any such regulations shall be liable to a fine of $20 or in default of payment to imprisonment for 1 month and in respect of any subsequent offence to a fine of $50 or in default of payment to imprisonment for 3 months.

ENDNOTES

¹ 1990 Revised Edition, Cap. 35 – Act 8 of 1926, LN 7/1968, Acts 8 of 1971, 9 of 1971, 14 of 1974

^[2] By LN 11/1987, AIDS was declared to be an infectious disease