Dr. Tedros Adhanom, a front runner to be the next WHO chief, says incentives for doctors to work in remote communities is essential to ensure indigenous health.
(SBS)–Governments must “walk the talk” to end the entrenched disadvantage indigenous Australians face, says Ethiopia’s former health minister and the front runner to be the next chief of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is one of the three final candidates for the post of director-general of the WHO and was responsible for reforming the Ethiopian health system.
As a result of that reform, rates of HIV and tuberculosis infection have been declining in the developing country.
Dr. Tedros says health is a rights issue, and closing the gap between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians requires political will and plenty of funding.
Providing substantial incentives for experienced doctors and health professionals to work in indigenous and remote communities is one “concrete” measure that’s required, Dr. Tedros says.
An Oxfam Australia report released on Wednesday (April 12) showed many fundamental rights of Aboriginal people (who are indigenous to mainland Australia or to the island of Tasmania) have not progressed as a result of decades of failed government policy.
It showed one in five indigenous households fall in the country’s poorest 10 per cent of households.
The report also condemned funding for indigenous services as inadequate, misdirected, uncertain and lacking transparency.
Just identifying the inequalities is a “very important” step to closing the gap but it must not stop there, Dr. Tedros says.
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See also:
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- Planet Earth Institute: Five Questions with HE Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
- VIDEO: Drone Footage and VR Show Ethiopian Community Get Clean Water for the First Time