Australian Medical Association

The reform of Australia's primary health care system has paid scant attention to the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. The 2010-11 AMA Indigenous Health Report Card identifies the barriers that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders experience in accessing high quality primary health care, and makes a series of recommendations on how these barriers can be removed through collaboration and integration between services and health sectors. The AMA believes that the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strair Islanders is everyone's responsibility.

The reform of Australia's primary health care system has paid scant attention to the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. The 2010-11 AMA Indigenous Health Report Card identifies the barriers that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders experience in accessing high quality primary health care, and makes a series of recommendations on how these barriers can be removed through collaboration and integration between services and health sectors. The AMA believes that the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strair Islanders is everyone's responsibility.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Report Cards

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2010 is an analysis of the most recent publicly available national data on public hospital performance plus more recent feedback from doctors working in public hospitals in all States and Territories.

There has been little improvement in public hospital capacity and performance despite significant extra Commonwealth funding as part of the National Healthcare Agreement and specific funding for an elective surgery ‘blitz’.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2010 - AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that there had been little improvement in public hospital capacity and performance despite significant extra Commonwealth funding as part of the National Healthcare Agreement and specific funding for an elective surgery ‘blitz’.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2010 is an analysis of the most recent publicly available national data on public hospital performance plus more recent feedback from doctors working in public hospitals in all States and Territories.

Transcript:      AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, with Deborah Cameron, ABC 702 Sydney, Thursday 9 September 2010

Subject:           Indigenous health policy; AMA Indigenous Health Report Card

AMA Indigenous Health Report Card 2009

The eighth AMA Indigenous Health Report Card – The Health of Indigenous Males: Building Capacity, Securing the Future – was launched in Darwin today by the Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, and AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce.

Dr Pesce said the Report Card this year highlights the tragic state of health for Indigenous males in Australia today, and proposes solutions that will ensure longer and better quality lives.

“Indigenous males are much more likely to die earlier from preventable causes than non-Indigenous males and Indigenous females,” Dr Pesce said.

“At every age – from boyhood to manhood – Indigenous males experience higher rates of diseases and conditions that are totally preventable.

“We need to take action to change this.

The AMA Indigenous Health Report Card 2009 collates the tragic facts of the health of Indigenous males.

The Report Card details AMA proposals to improve the health of Indigenous males through primary health care services and workforce, quality care in all Australian health services, local community capacity building, health promotion and chronic disease prevention, strategies to keep Indigenous males out of prison, a focus on social and emotional wellbeing, and promotion of economic engagement and entrepreneurial opportunities.

This Report Card brings together the most recent available data and information about the health of Indigenous Australian children. The AMA recommends that access to Indigenous specific child and maternal services needs to be significantly improved, along with improvements to living environment conditions and enhanced capacity-building in Indigenous communities.

This Report Card includes a number of Good News Stories about relevant projects or initiatives that are having a significant impact on Indigenous people’s health. 

The Australian Medical Association today released its seventh AMA Indigenous Health Report Card in Canberra – focusing on Indigenous children and the discrepancies in their health outcomes.

Ending the Cycle of Vulnerability: The Health of Indigenous Children reveals the plight confronting these most vulnerable of citizens.