Investing in Indigenous health leadership

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Photo: Jason Malouin, courtesy Oxfam Australia.

Photo: Jason Malouin, courtesy Oxfam Australia.

Despite advances in healthcare in recent years, Indigenous Australians have a shorter life expectancy, higher mortality rates and higher rates of preventable illness such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes than other Australians.

For Indigenous Australians born between 2005 and 2007, life expectancy is estimated to be 67.2 years for males and 72.9 years for females: around 10 – 11 years less than non-Indigenous people.

A $10 million gift to the University of Melbourne from leading Australian philanthropist Greg Poche will establish the University of Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health: a Centre that will provide training and development programs for emerging and established Indigenous leaders, and create academic pathways for Indigenous PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows in health. The gift is part of Believe – the Campaign for the University of Melbourne.